Cross River May Regain Parts Of 76 Oil Wells

                        

Indications emerged yesterday that respite may come the way of Cross River State over the 36 oil wells taken from it and given to Akwa Ibom State, following the judgement of the Supreme Court which ruled that the oil wells belongs to the former.

This was the outcome of a meeting presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo yesterday at the presidential villa, Abuja. The meeting was said to have been convened on the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan who ordered that relevant agencies conduct a review of the Supreme Court verdict with a view to finding ways to provide succour to Cross River State.

At the meeting, Sambo directed that the judgement of the apex court on the matter and other matters arising therefrom be examined thoroughly, just as he ordered the Revenue Mobilisationa, allocation and Fiscal Commission to make presentations as to the way forward.

In his presentation, the chairman of RMAFC noted that the commission had been meeting to find ways to advise government on the need to provide succour to Cross River State due to the financial discomfort it suffered as a result of the judgement of the Supreme Court.

According to him, the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act, especially Section 5 sub-section 7, stipulates that for the purposes of the Act and for the avoidance of doubt, where any state of the federation suffers any loss which is outside its control, the stabilization funds shall be used to give succour to such a state.

The meeting examined the new security challenges at the Bakassi peninsula and the loss of innocent lives through the activities of some foreign bodies and resolved that, as the Green Tree Agreement is nearing expiration, measures needed to be to be taken to address such security challenges.

The vice president directed that a detailed report with relevant evidence be provided to enable government act decisively.Present at the meeting were the governors of Cross River and Akwa Ibom states, Senator Liyel Imoke and Chief Godswill Apkabio; the chairman of RMAFC; the DG, National Boundary Commissiona; and other top government officials.

Imoke told State House correspondents after the meeting convened by the vice president on the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan that discussions on ways and means of dealing with some of the challenges that Cross River faced as a result of the ceding of Bakassi also dominated the meeting.

Imoke said, “Some of the challenges are humanitarian, social, security issues and financial. At the meeting, the vice president directed federal agencies to look at ways and means of addressing the problems.

“The vice president has also directed that we look at the complaints and asked that we forward them to him and to the office of the attorney-general with evidences that may have captured possible human rights abuses.”

For his part, Governor Akpabio said it was a very good meeting and that the presidency called the meeting to discuss the challenges being faced following the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroun.

He said, “The challenge of insecurity in the region, the idea of humanitarian challenge and the aftermath of the ceding of Bakassi and particularly to find a peaceful way to accommodate all parties so that there will be peace in the region.

For me, it was a very good meeting and we discussed also how to ensure that our sister state of Cross River is also happy with the situation so that the challenges they may be facing may be ameliorated in a way that will show that there is really a sense of belonging to the Nigerian federation.

“Re-settlement will continue to be a problem, even for some of our people who opted to remain in the peninsula by 2013 when the final withdrawal of who wants to be a citizen and who wants to remain. I think we still have the problem of influx of people into the country. It is proper that we begin to prepare for refugee crises that may still rear its head outside those who are already here now.

“I am sure that more people will still want to leave the peninsula in 2013. It is something that the government will need to prepare itself so that it would not take them by surprise. Federal government is also looking at the issue of human rights abuses in the peninsula to ensure that our people are not unnecessarily harassed.”