Southern Nigeria Peoples Mandate (SNPM), a human right organization, has advised the Federal Government of Nigeria to discontinue the use of multi-nationals or private companies to export the nation’s crude oil.
It also appealed to the Federal Government to review the 13 percent oil derivation the government pays to oil producing states. SNPM through its President, Augustine Chukwudum, urged the government to also diversify the nation’s economy by boosting agriculture and tourism.
Chukwudum pointed out that Nigeria is the only member of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that exports crude oil and imports refined products.
According to him, the system breeds corruption through subsidizing the cost of the product, which he described as fraud.
“This is the time for the government to take the bull by the horn by stopping the fraud going on in the oil sector.
“There are many companies that lift crude oil daily in this country that our government does not know. The government does not even know the total barrels they lift everyday because there are no checks and balances in the sector. This is why all the talk for the diversification of economy by the current administration of President Muhumadu Buhari has not received serious attention,” he said.
He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw the licenses of crude oil exporters and mandate them to build refinaries in the country.
On the 13 percent derivation given to the oil producing states, Chukwudum called for a review of the sharing formula.
He suggested that oil producing communities should be allowed to control 10 percent, while states and local governments will be controlling five percent each making it 20 percent total. “When this is done, the story of Niger Delta militants and oil theft will be a thing of the past. This is because the people from the area will now use the money they realize from oil to fast-track development in the various communities and it will also save billions of naira which had been claimed to have been spent in the past by previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan in the name of securing oil pipe lines,” he said.