Rights activist Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday urged the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to publish an up-to-date list of all individuals who have been allocated oil blocks.
He said after the publication, the Goodluck Jonathan administration should cancel all oil blocks allocated to a few interest groups and vest them in the Federal Government in line with Section 44 of the Constitution.
“In other words, oil and gas should be nationalised in the interest of the Nigerian people.
“Instead of empowering either the President or the Minister of Petroleum Resources to dole out oil blocks to serving ministers, party members, personal friends and business partners, the National Assembly should ensure that all blocks are owned by the Federal Government in trust for the Nigerian people.
“This demand accords with section 16(1) (c ) of the Constitution which states that the State shall ‘manage and operate the major sectors of the economy,’” Falana said in a statement.
According to the lawyer, the list published last week following a Senate debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill was outdated and grossly misleading.
Senator Ita Enang alleged that 83 per cent of Nigeria’s oil blocks are in the hands of Northerners. He spoke during the debate on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
Falana said the list contained only the names of those who were allocated oil blocks under the defunct military junta but not names of the other traders who have been allocated oil blocks by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government since 1999.
Equally missing from the list, he said, are the names of multinational companies otherwise called “Oil majors” which control the share of the oil and gas industry.
Falana said: “For instance, I have a suit pending at the Federal High Court against the Ministry of Petroleum Resources over the renewal of the expired 40-year old licences of three oil blocks (which produce 580,000 barrels of crude oil per day) for Mobil Producing last year for the sum of $600 million notwithstanding that a Chinese oil company had offered to pay $5.8 billion for the same oil blocks !
“Apart from Mobil, there are about 17 other foreign oil companies which are the major key players in the oil industry while Nigerians are forced to operate in the marginal fields.
“The said foreign companies or Oil Majors own 80 per cent of the oil blocks and as such they are completely in charge of the oil and gas industry.
“Incidentally, the disclosure in the Senate last week coincided with the death of President Hugo Rafael Chavez of Venezuela who nationalised the oil industry which enabled his government to generate enough revenue to fund a comprehensive welfare programme for the hitherto improverished people of the Latin American country.
“But the enomous commonwealth of the Nigerian people have been cornered by a few rent collectors and other members of the parasitic ruling class.
“A few of them who raked billions of dollars from the illegal sale of the oil blocks have openly confessed that they do not know what to do with the huge fund! Because such wealth has been privatised Nigeria cannot, like Venezuela, meet the eight Millenium Development Goals by 2015.
“In view of the confusion caused by the partial information released by the Senate last week the Ministry of Petroleum Resources should, without any further delay, publish an up-to-date list of all local individuals and foreigners who have been allocated oil blocks by the Federal Government.”
Niger Delta Coalition demands oil blocs scrap, re-allocation
Meanwhile, a Niger Delta group, the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS), urged the Federal Government to scrap ownership of all oil blocs.
It said the government should begin at zero point to re-allocate them in the spirit of fairness and equity.
“Oil blocs should now be allocated based on federal character principle since the nation is reluctant to give us either total control or make sure the Niger Delta gets what it deserves,” the group said at a press briefing in Lagos.
Its Secretary-General, Mr Tony Uranta said: “Whilst we talk of derivative principle of 13 per cent to the Niger Delta, we must remember that over 60 per cent of the federal allocation to councils in Nigeria goes to the North.
Courtesy the Nation