*’North becoming poorer, S/South getting richer’
AbdulSalam Muhammad
18 November 2012, Sweetcrude, Kano – TROUBLE may be looming over the sharing of Nigeria’s oil revenue as feelers from the northern part of the country indicate that governors of the states in the region believe they are not getting a fair share from the nation’s commonwealth.
Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State, one of the 19 northern governors, Saturday, slammed what he described as a Federation Allocation regime that enriches some states, especially those in the South-south, but impoverishes the northern states.
“In this context, many other states, specifically in the South-south are today ahead of the northern states in terms of income from the Federation Account. This means that some states are getting richer by the day while people are wallowing in devastating poverty,” Kwankwaso said.
He hinted that the northern governors are also making an issue out of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, currently in the works in the National Assembly, saying the implications of the Bill being passed in its form would have dire consequences for the north.
He said the northern governors would soon meet to consider the implications of the PIB for the region.
Kwankwaso did not mention the specifics of the northern governors grouse with the PIB.
“As a former member of the Niger Delta Development Commission, a former member of the National Assembly, a former minister and now a governor, I have vast knowledge of what is being shared to all the states,” the governor said.
‘Uncertain Future’
While speaking on the PIB, the former defence minister under the Obasanjo administration and one-time deputy speaker of the House of Representatives said: “We in the North are keenly watching and we will not allow our region to be plunged into yet another uncertain future as we will do all we can to make sure that there is equity that will guarantee a sense of belonging to every citizenry”.
The north today, he said, is at the lowest political ebb, stressing that it is the more reason stakeholders from the region need to sit on the roundtable to make their stand known on the PIB and other sundry matters in the polity.
