Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Olawale Olaopa, Ibikunle Ogundari, Mike Awoleye, and Willie Siyanbola
directly, or indirectly, more revenue from the oil sector than any of the
oil producing states. It was a classic case of internal colonialism.
This was, roughly, the situation until in 1999 when the new
Constitution, for the first time, after decades of relentless exploitation
of the oil producing states, conceded 13 per cent of oil revenue to the
nine oil producing states. This change was a response to the
increasing and violent agitation of the people and militia of the oil
producing states for a greater share of the oil revenue accruing to the
federation account.
But this increase is considered by the oil
producing states as too little and too late. They are now asking for
true fiscal federalism based on the principle of 50 per cent derivation
at independence, or total control. But the situation has changed.
There are 27 states that produce no oil but share in the oil revenue,
and there is little or no support among these states, or the ruling
PDP, for the idea of reverting to the principle of 50 per cent derivation.
Without the oil money many of them will simply be unable to
adequately perform.
The argument being advanced in some quarters, particularly from
the states that produce no oil, that the governments of the oil
producing states are wasteful and mismanaged their vast oil income
has some validity. A study by the Centre for Advanced Social Studies
(CASS) in Port Harcourt published that about N3.1 trillion get to the
nine Niger Delta State from the federation accounts. The Study also
concluded that despite this vast income the region had a per capital
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