Niger Delta activist and former militant leader, Asari Dokubo has asked the Federal Government to immediately revoke the licenses that give Northern elite control over 83% of the oil blocs in Nigeria.
Senator Ita Enang (Akwa Ibom) had made the allegation on Wednesday on the floor of the National Assembly during a dispute over the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Alhaji Asari Dokubo said, “We must sound it clear to our brother, Jonathan, that if he fails to do something about it, we shall take our destiny on our own hands…
“It’s not a threat, but a warning to our brother to act fast. According to the leader of the Niger/Delta Peoples Volunteers Force, the revelation has brought home to Nigerians the reason behind the restiveness in the Niger Delta.
Asari said: “Can you now see what we have been fighting for? We own the oil and we are suffering for it. Is it a curse to have oil in our land?
“Now, you see why these Northerners want to die in power.The oil we have is being controlled by them. Is that not funny?”See, let me tell you, if Jonathan fails to revoke the licences, we will take our destiny in our hands. We will not sleep any more for people to take what belongs to us. Nigerians must stand to resist a set of cabals that turned our country to their personal empire.”
“One single person is richer than Nigeria. They are sucking our blood. Our land is being destroyed every day. No water, we can’t fish anymore; the land is polluted. Yet, none of our people in the Niger/Delta controlls an oil bloc.”
Also lending a statement on the matter, the President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Mr. Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, said the Northern domination of the oil industry was unjust.
He said, “The oil producing communities in the Niger Delta deserve more than 10 per cent. That is not what we agreed on, but we can take off from there. For now, the 10 per cent is a basis for the way forward. We expect the 10 per cent to be calculated on gross profit and not net profit of oil companies operating in the Niger Delta.
“The fund will take care of the future without crude oil and gas, for the communities not to be abandoned like Oloibiri in Bayelsa State, where crude oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in 1956, when the crude oil in wells of current producing communities dries up.
“Nigeria’s oil and gas industry is dominated by one section of the country, which is quite unfortunate. Where is the much-talked-about federal character? Niger Deltans are being marginalised.
“We must look at the oil industry again. The sector must be open for participation of all Nigerians.”