By Harrison Akamule
Former Commissioner of Information, defunct Bendel State, Chief (Barr. ) Veronica Bamuza- Mutu has called on Federal Government to pay the 13% Derivation money directly to the Oil producing Communities and not state government.
She made the call at Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt, Rivers State shortly after receiving LIFE TIME AWARD from Ijaw Republican Assembly Patriotic Front (IRA -PF) 2022 HEROES OF IJAW NATION Award Night.
According to her, Section One, 6, 2 Subsection 2 said the Derivation Clause should be constantly reflected in all sharing, but it did not say that the money should be paid to the State Government.
Bamuza- Mutu noted that it was wrong to pay state government’s the money that the Oil producing Communities have been clamouring for.
The immediate past two term legal Adviser to Ijaw National Congress (INC) in her words “I will blame the Presidency for not paying it directly to the Communities.
“Whichever mismanagement that is going on, the Presidency should be held responsible. I want to use this medium to plead that the money should be from now paid directly to the Oil minerals producing Communities and not the state Governments , it is not right, so I am not happy about it”.
Bamuza- Mutu also pointed out that Federal Government should reverse the name Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC), to Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) , now that Bauchi, Niger and other States have started producing Oil too.
Niger Deltans now that Bauchi, Niger and others states are Oil producing to OMPADEC, Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission.
