Akpabio Warns against Reintroducing Onshore/Offshore Laws

Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, has warned that the plan to reintroduce the onshore and offshore oil laws in the country will break Nigeria, stating that the law is obnoxious, outdated and can cause hatred within the country.

Speaking on the issue, Akpabio said: “The planned re-introduction of the on and off shore laws is an evil wind that will not blow the country any good. The 19 Northern states are using the opportunity of the constitution review to champion the cause for the abrogation of the on and off shore oil laws that were abolished in Nigeria during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The Northern governors have gone to the extent of setting up a committee of state attorneys-general to come up with a bill that would be sent to National Assembly.”

According to him, “the planned re-introduction of the off and on shore laws will introduce a heightened vandalism of oil pipelines and militancy as well as hatred.  I don’t know why we should be contemplating the introduction of laws that will divide us as Nigerians.”

The governor said: “Nigeria is blessed with numerous natural resources”, citing the example of Australia that was dependent on mining, asking why states like Nasarawa State that is blessed with natural resources will not concentrate in the development of its natural resources.

Onshore-Offshore Dichotomy: FG Forecloses Review

The Federal Government has ruled out revisiting the issue of the onshore-offshore oil dichotomy. Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, stated the government’s position on the issue, which has already pitted the North against the South, at a valedictory session in honour of Justice Francis Fedode Tabai at the Supreme Court, Abuja.

He warned politicians and legal practitioners to avoid overheating the polity through the current debate on the need or otherwise to review the onshore-offshore oil dichotomy, which partly forms the basis for the allocation of derivation proceeds from the Federation Account.

His warning came against the backdrop of the clamour for a review of the onshore-offshore oil dichotomy by Northern governors who hold the view that the formula has reduced the distributable funds from the Federation Account to all tiers of government. However, their counterparts from the South-south and people of the oil-producing littoral states have rejected their position and even demanded that the derivation formula be raised from the current 13 per cent to 50 per cent.  Adoke said the debate, which is being elevated to an urgent national matter, with all the potential to generate acrimonious wrangling within the polity, and being made to look as if it was new, had been determined by the Supreme Court long time ago.

Onshore-Off Shore Dichotomy: Labour cautions against moves

Labour leaders from oil producing States in Nigeria has cautioned that the renewed agitation for the re-introduction of the on-shore off-shore dichotomy portends great danger for the unity of the country describing it as uncalled for and unnecessary diversion. The labour leaders stated their position in a communiqué issue at the end of the Joint Meeting of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) Oil Producing States Forum held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.

The six point resolution signed by the chairmen and secretaries of the NLC and TUC of the oil producing states posited that even the 13% oil derivation was inadequate and should be reviewed upward. The meeting tasked the Federal Government must be courageous enough to review out system of fiscal federalism such that states and local governments would be effectively motivated to grow their economies in their areas of comparative advantage rather than continue to depend on federal allocation.

The labour leaders blamed the poverty level, unemployment and insecurity in the country to many years of misrule and corruption and accordingly urged the Federal Government to demonstrate its determination, capacity and willingness to fight corruption being the bane of security in the country.