Militants ask N’Delta govs to account for N50tn derivation funds

• Want the funds paid to communities not govs

Reformed Niger Delta Avengers has asked the region’s governors to explain what they did with over N50 trillion received from the 13 per cent derivation funds.

The group faulted the governors on the seven-point demand presented at a consultative meeting with the Federal Government delegation in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The RNDA said the demands and restructuring template did not represent the interests of the region.

The group, in a statement by its Coordinator, John Mark Ezonebi, called on the Federal Government to stand firm on the direct payment of derivation funds to oil-producing communities.

The RNDA said it rejected the seven-point demand due to the alleged misuse of development funds accruing to the states.

It said South-South governors should rather account for about N50 trillion that accrued to them from the Federal Government as 13 per cent derivation funds over the years without any meaningful people-oriented projects.

The coalition said, “We, therefore, call on the Federal Government’s delegation headed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, not to take the seven-point demand seriously.

“The governors of the region have lost the support and sympathy of the people. The demands do not represent the general interest of the long-suffering people of the oil and gas producing communities ravaged by environmental pollution and the hazards of oil exploration and exploitation caused by the multinational oil companies in the creeks of the region.

“The suffering of the people of the oil-producing communities is due to the governors’ failure to properly utilise the 13 per cent derivation funds accruing to the region.

“The oil and gas producing communities demand that the Federal Government should henceforth stop paying the 13 per cent derivation funds to the governors anymore.”

A former Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide President, Udengs Eradiri, reacting to the Zamfara gold controversy, knocked the governors for failing to harness the potential and mineral resources within their domains to turn around the fortunes of their states.

The former IYC boss said the usual culture of blaming the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari was an indication that the states’ leaders could not realise that they were sitting on a goldmine.