Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has spilled beans by naming the benefiting nine crude oil-producing states in the Niger Delta region that collected the 13% derivation monies backlog.
The benefiting states are Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Abia, Edo, Delta, Ondo, Lagos, Imo, and Rivers States.
The 13 percent derivation fund comes from the federation revenue to oil-producing communities through the state governments as enshrined in section 162, sub-section 2 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended).
Also read: Account For 13% Oil Derivation Backlog Paid by Buhari- Wike tells N/Delta Governors
Though most of the state governors including Akwa Ibom have not announced publicly collection of the monies nor given account how the monies were spent, Wike has acknowledged receipt and the projects tied to the monies.
The 13 percent derivation funds were withheld since 1999 during the reign of the ex-presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Yar’Adua, and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administrations.
As a result of Obasanjo’s refusal to implement the policy, Joel Bisina, Timiebi Seiya and the Niger- Delta Professionals for Development (NIDPRODEV), in 2020 dragged the Federal Government to a Federal High Court in Lagos over non-payment of the 13 per cent derivation fund to oil-producing states.
They prayed the court to declare that sharing of the fund should commence from May, 1999 instead of January 2000 proposed by Obasanjo.
In the suit, registered as FHC/L/CS/429/2000, they asked the court for a declaration directing Obasanjo, the National Assembly and the Attorney-General of the Federation to calculate and pay forthwith, all the oil-producing states starting from last year instead of as at present calculated.
However, National Assembly resolved the deadlock by adopting a political solution to engender peace in the then crisis-torn Niger Delta states.
Governor Wike praised President Muhammadu Buhari for releasing the funds, but impugned on Jonathan and others for refusing to give Niger Delta States their dues.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Nabo Graham Douglas campus of the Nigerian Law School, Rumueme in Port Harcourt, Wike who commended President Buhari for approving the payment of the funds said the money has been the major source of infrastructural development of his administration.
An advisory services firm, ACIOE Associates, in its report had stated that eight oil-producing states received N6.589 trillion from the Federation Account under the 13 percent derivation principle from 2009 to 2019.
Governor Wike said, “Let me say it for the first time. So many people asked me: ‘where is he getting this money’? Let me say it. I want, through the Attorney-General of the Federation, to thank Mr President.
‘‘Monies that were not paid to the Niger Delta states since 1999 — the 13 percent deductions — monies that were not paid, Mr President approved and paid all of us from the Niger Delta states.
“And for me, it would be unfair not to tell the public. It is not from FAAC money. It is the money that is supposed to be for Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Edo, and Bayelsa states. Yesterday, we commissioned the ninth flyover. In December, we will commission the 10th flyover. By February next year, we will commission 11th and 12th flyovers.
“So, I want to sincerely from the heart and on behalf of the government and people of the state, thank Mr President for this, because as an opposition government, he could have said ‘don’t pay’. You can’t do anything. Since 1999, the money has not been paid. Did we do anything? So, I want to sincerely thank him.”
