We must control our resources – Alamieyeseigha

FORMER Governor of Bayelsa State and a
delegate at the National Conference, Chief Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, has berated those calling for the
reduction of the 13 per cent derivation to five per
cent, declaring that he would not give up fighting for
resource control until the Niger Delta region begins
to controls its resources.
He said: "I put on the toga of resource control and I
will never waver until we control our resources and
determine what we want to do with it and pay
appropriate tax to the central government. I, for one,
do see peace in this country.
Our environment is destroyed. There is a new trend
now that Nigerians do not know; it is the prevalence
of cancer among our women. People are dying. The
effects of oil exploration are so much and heavy on
our people. "
They are sharing money; they are not thinking of
what we are going through back there. Oil is a
wasting asset. If we destroy our land then we cannot
even feed ourselves."
Asked what must be put in place to address the
raging cases of oil theft in Nigeria, Alamieyeseigha, a
member of Committee on Public Finance and
Revenue, who urged the government to write to
foreign embassies that are engaged in oil exploration
in the country, however, said that the Air Force rather
than Navy should take total control of monitoring and
checking oil bunkering.
His words: "The way forward to me is very simple.
We have identified the problem; it is because of the
value change. Nigerian oil outside is very lucrative
when refined.
"There is also the banking system. When you make
money, it is through the banks that you get the
money back into the country, so they are also
involved.
"The people that are in the industry have the
technical know-how to get this crude oil from very
high pressure pipes. The boys in the creek do not
have the connections to bring ships from abroad, so
in effect, we have buyers. If we don't have buyers
then the market would be saturated and it will not be
profitable.
"So, how do we stop buyers of our crude oil that is so
unique in the international market? You have to be
very courageous and be ready to pay any price
because they will try to bring your government down
because it is huge amount of money they are
making.
"So if you have the courage, the first step you should
take is to inform the cartel through their embassies
because ships are registered in their country and
their destinations are also known. The type of
business they do is also known, the routes they ply
are also known.
"So what are they coming to do in our exclusive
economic zone, especially in the Niger Delta?"
The former governor, who also accused the
expatriates of being responsible for the proliferation
of weapons in the country, especially from Ukraine,
said: "They are the ones bringing weapons into the
country, especially ships from places like Ukraine.
They take the crude oil and pay in weapons.
"We know all these and the information is available.
So, the Federal Government should write the
embassies operating in Nigeria, saying, 'Look, this is
our problem; inform your home government not to
release their ships for these nefarious activities.'
"Give them time, they have been doing it for so
many years, give them time say three months, after
three months if we see any of your ships in
unauthorised areas, we are going to destroy it."
"By the time you destroy three or four vessels, no
country would allow its vessel to come and operate.
"So there will be no buyer and once there is no buyer,
the collaborators among us would look for another
job because the industry has been made
unattractive.
"It is a simple way of discouraging bunkering."

Sent From David Aniemeka