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WHY I SEEK RESOURCE CONTROL AT CONFAB - OZEKHOME

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Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), is a delegate to the ongoing National Conference. He spoke to newsmen after a court session, saying he will advocate for resource control at the Conference to initiate the process of diversifying the economy of the country and national development.

You were recently quoted as advocating 100 per cent resource control for oil producing areas at the ongoing National Conference. Does this position not contradict Section 80 of the Nigerian Constitution?
The entire conference itself is extra-constitutional. We are not holding the conference based on our constitution; it is like the ‘Doctrine of Necessity’. Section 9 of the Constitution only envisages amendment of the constitution by the National Assembly.  The National Assembly cannot make a constitution; it is the constitution that gives birth to the National Assembly. So when we talk about true fiscal federalism as obtains in America, have you ever heard that the oil in Texas is controlled by the American government? No, it is controlled by private individuals and companies. True federalism means that each federating unit controls its own resources. It was like that up to 15th of January, 1966 when Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu played out his first military coup.
Under the Independence and Republican Constitution of 1960 and 1963 respectively, each region - Western, Eastern, Northern and the Mid-Western Region  - that was created on the 9th of August, 1963 controlled their own resources. They took 50 per cent of their resources and paid 25 per cent tax to the Tafawa Balewa-led government at the centre. The remaining 25 per cent was shared by all the regions including that that have already taken 50 per cent. That was how the late sage Obafemi Awolowo was able to give free education to the Yoruba which makes them unarguably the most educated and sophisticated race in Nigeria today. With that money he built the Liberty Stadium, the Western Nigeria Television - the first television station in Africa - the Obafemi Awolowo University and the Cocoa House.
In the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto was able to build the Ahmadu Bello University, and the famous groundnut pyramids of Kano, and founded the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation, Durbar Hotel, Hamdala Hotel etc.
In the East, Dr Michael Okpara was able to use the oil palm produce of the region to complete the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, the Presidential Hotel, Enugu and Port Harcourt; Metropolitan Hotel, Calabar, Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt; the Obudu Cattle Ranch etc. In the Mid-West, Prof Dennis Osadebey and Dennis Timarere were able to use the rubber, plywood and timber industry of the old Mid-West to develop the region.
Why is it that when oil was discovered in the Niger Delta, you now have to transport oil by pipe-line from Warri and Port Harcourt to Kaduna. I didn’t remember hearing that cocoa, hides and skins and cotton were transported by pipe-lines from Kano and Kaduna to my village, Agenebode, in Edo State. Or that cocoa in the West was transported to Ajaokuta or to Amichi and Uga in Anambra State. I didn’t hear that the palm produce of the Eastern region was carried to Kaduna, Kaura Namoda or Birnin-Kebbi. That is what we mean by true and fiscal federalism.
Look, because of the over reliance on this monolithic crude oil, which is a wasting asset and the less than 300 trillion cubic feet of gas which we are flaring daily, we have now ignored totally agriculture and all the other minerals that are available.
Do you know that Nasarawa State has the largest solid minerals deposit: 36 from iron to gold, columbite etc? Do you know that it is followed by Plateau State with 32 mineral resources? All over the country there are mineral resources. Have we explored them? Why? Because the 70 to 80 per cent of our revenue, we are all sitting down expecting from oil and at the end of every month, all the 36 state commissioners of finance and the FCT equivalent all gravitate towards Abuja to take their federation account sharing. And many of the governors use this as security votes. When it finishes they come back to get more. No nation develops like that.
Japan is one example of a country that does not have a single drop of crude oil. Because the new world is not about natural resources, it is about human resources. Yet Japan is one of the leading economies of the world. We should begin to look beyond natural resources to human resources. That is what is driving the world. America is already looking for alternatives through shale, solar energy, palm kernel etc. You are going to see that in the next few years nobody will touch your crude oil. Even if they will, it is a wasting asset, which means it will finish one day.
So this is the right time for Nigeria to begin to diversify its economy. And this National Conference must arrive at true fiscal federalism. This means everybody will control their resources and pay tax to the central government. So that the government at the centre can take care of external and internal defence, foreign affairs, central banking, immigration and customs. And then the entire decisions of the conference will be taken to the people of Nigeria in a popular referendum or plebiscite. That is what will give the constitution its legitimacy, legality, validity, acceptability and respectability because power, sovereignty, as the president said in his speech at the inauguration, belongs to the people.
And it is for the people to exercise their sovereignty through a new constitution not the present Decree No 24 imposed by General Abdulsalami Abubakar and his 28-member Provisional Ruling Council (PRC). It is such a brand new constitution that is said to be autochthonous  or home-grown because it emanates from the people unaffected, un-tinkered and unaltered by the National Assembly.
What structure of federation would you recommend?
I think we must go back to the regions we had before or at most eight regions. And the Mid-Western region comprising Edo and Delta be carved out from the South South. I believe the 36 states structure is too expensive to maintain. I believe in state police.
The president warned delegates against discussing the unity of Nigeria, which has been criticized. What is your take?
In the inauguration speech of the president, all he harped upon was the unity in diversity of Nigeria and Nigeria’s disparate cultures, traditions and religions. I don’t understand it that the president referred to any ‘no-go areas’. All he said was to make the conversation positive. I think that that speech was the greatest speech he had given since he assumed office.
How would you assess the process of selection of delegates to the conference?
I believe it was fair. How was it fair? The federal government has about 47 as its share; the rest was given to critical segments of the society. For example the civil society met and took their own. My people of Afemai now met and took me to represent them but mysteriously, surreptitiously, some people went behind and removed my name and put another person. I learnt that Mr President heard that and felt that I should be a party to this conference. So my name was added as a federal government’s delegate. So I became an addendum of the federal government.
So, I believe by telling the various groups like governors, political associations, NLC, ethnic nationalities, NBA, trade unions, NMA, NUJ, women society, Youth Council of Nigeria etc. to take their people is democratic enough.
The NBA has boycotted the National Conference because of the single slot allotted it, what is your opinion on it?
Well as a NEC member of the NBA, I cannot depart from what the NBA has said. Although there are enough lawyers, some of us, eggheads who will still be there to protect the interest of the NBA, but that does not mean we are representing the NBA officially. It will be documented that NBA boycotted the conference because they felt, and rightly so too, that it will be ridiculous and ludicrous for NBA in a process that will require a lot of legal regime to have been given just one slot like other professional bodies. The NBA is not just another body. I support the NBA president, the NEC and the NBA.

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