RESOURCE CONTROL ADVOCATES HAVE A CASE - UTOMI.

IT was a most impressive audience. The Conference Hall of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) at Effurun was filled beyond its capacity. Those outside outnumbered their compatriots inside. From the academia to the intelligentsia, from chief executives to the artisan, from employers to unemployed and a good array of traditional rulers, they were all there. They came to listen to the Second Anniversary Lecture put together by the Committee for the Second Anniversary Celebration of Governor James Ibori's Second Year in Delta State.

The lecture titled: Resource Control Fiscal Federalism and Political Stability in Nigeria was delivered by Dr. Patrick Utomi, Director, Lagos Business School and Chairman, Platinum Bank. He rose to the billing. Utomi who described Resource Control as "a synonym for Fiscal Federalism" said that the issue has gained currency owing mainly to the "large scale ignoring of oil producing areas on which the wealth of the country is dependent in the development efforts". He lamented the fate that has befallen those inhabiting the areas where oil is produced.

His words: "So patently unfair has been the hand dealt those whose environments have been despoiled, advancement neglected and future mortgaged, by the Federal Government which controls most of the wealth generated from oil explorations, that it became an international scandal. I serve on the Delta State Think Tank on Development. When I had the opportunity to discover that only one-town in oil producing Bomadi Local Government was linked to the national grid of power supply, I felt something move deep inside my bowels about the gravity of the unfairness of what has happened in Nigeria.

The imperative of redressing this injustice is such that any decent person will seek to redress matters with a grave sense of urgency." He located the needless controversy attending the clamour for Resource Control, in the absence of principles among politicians in these climes. Utomi said his greatest concern was the tendency of most Nigerians not to base opinions on principles.

He reasoned: "If we think principles and not momentary personal convenience, perhaps the kind of warlike cacophony of responses that deepens social cleavages, which have been generated on this subject of fiscal federalism will be found to be unnecessary. If we were principled in our position, we would be consistent on the same issue... Many people who should be people of honour have shifted positions continuously on the subject of fiscal federalism.

In my takes dignity out of a man. He traced the origin of the ownership monopoly of oil to the "totalitarian orientation" of imperialists who assumed ownership and control of mineral resources. Said he: Act of 1945, that the colonial office had decreed, vested the entire property and control of all mineral and minoral oil in, under or upon any land in Nigeria and all rivers, streams and water courses throughout in the crown."

'' Citing the 1954 Constitution, he said it was in favour of fiscal federalism while the political economy side of it encouraged competition between the regions at the time, for t delivering economic progress to their people. He regretted that the competition among the former regions for development, which he christened competitive communalism, was eclipsed by the military which is noted for I "centralized authority".

He further reasoned: "The hierarchy of command and control was cemented by a narrowling of Nigeria's revenue base towards one primary source with oil becoming a major factor immediately after the civil war. This development, he said, eventually led to a situation when Nigeria became a Federation only in name." Zeroing in on the havoc that the military wreaked on the country, he said: " To have more cake to share out, with the opportunities for economic rent, outright stealing and port barrel politicking, the powerful military at the centre turned fiscal federalism on its head".

Continuing his historical analysis of the origin of the inherent injustice in the present System, Utomi said: "The 50 per cent derivation formula at independence agreed to by the founding fathers in negation of the 1945 Ordinance on mineral cited earlier was set aside.Since then we have tinkered with both the spirit and the letter of derivation formula and the very essence of fiscal federalism that formed the very foundation of the social contract that the Nigerian federation rested on".

He was not done yet. He highlighted even worse methods that the military employed in denying the federating units and, especially the oil producing areas of revenues accruing from oil. Hear him: "While the violation of the letter of fiscal federalism was betrayal enough, damaging the spirit of the idea has even been more troubling.

It was not only that the formula changed but the military leadership at various times employed the instrumentality of Dedicated Accounts, Barter, Special Projects etc.to hold back for the Federal Government up to 50% of the revenue from oil before making what was left available for sharing between the centre and the constituent units using that unfair formula that already left so little to the federating units and especially to those who bore the brunt of mineral exploration which despoiled the environment, denying those in these areas possibilities of future revenues lost in those other assets like their farm lands, fresh waters for fishing and their forests with much biotechnology ingredients potential and wood.

I have gone down this path to show that history has made the anger of those clamouring for what is now called resource control the pattern that which until 1966, was inclined toward greater fiscal autonomy". He however, expressed concern over governments' consumption to private consumption ratios and their impact on sustainable economic growth. He said that his worry notwithstanding, it was not enough reason "for the centre to dominate".

On the southern governors' definition of resource control, he said it stemmed primarily from the way the centre, especially under the military, treated faith in the concept of revenue generation and sharing. "Not to be sensitive," he argued, " to the fact that the southern governors are reacting to experience is neither fair nor mature." "With oil" he also said, "we have had the paradox of the ones that should be showing magnanimity being the one that has been a true victim of lack of equity. Equity or concerns about balanced development in a federation is not a soft moral issue."

Utomi said that part of the reason federalism remained very attractive was the opportunity to pursue what suit the cultural sensitivity of the units - recognizing that if federating units can gauge their need, they should be respected as capable of determining how best to apply their resources. He saw one of the benefits of the debate on resource control as its ability to trigger a rethink of the country's development paradigm, "giving more ascents to the work ethic, entrepreneurial zest and ethical conduct while eliminating obsession for pursuing opportunities for economic rent, whether this be in the mineral producing areas or elsewhere in the federation where people hope they can change power to dispense of what they neither own nor produce.

" The discussants at the lecture: Mr. David Edevbie, the Delta State Commissioner for Finance; Prof. (Mrs.) Margaret Okorodudu Fubara of the University of Ife, Professor Onigu Otite of the University of Ibadan and Professor Bright Ekuerhare, Provost of Delta , State University, Asaba Campus, were equally profound in their contributions. Edevbie who gave very detailed definitions of concepts which include Federalism, Revenue Allocation, Government and State argued that: "Before the colonization of Africa by the European States, the various indigenous peoples existed as autonomous units, relating to one another as was desirable by the peoples.

They exercised control over their cultures, languages, trade, land, sea and all the resources contained therein. Their boundaries were clearly defined and were not functions of population, landmass or mineral resources". Zeroing in on Nigeria, he reasoned that Nigeria did not gain its independence in one day, adding that each of the original three regions at inception, gained its independence separately. He identified the first damage done to the country's federating units as Britain's decision to ignore the treaties it entered into with the protectorates it conquered "in favour of artificial creations called regions.

" He, however, argued that in spite of this error, the 1960 Independence Constitution was negotiated to respect the internal autonomy of the regions and thus guarantee rapid development. Edevbie traced the development of the Western and Eastern regions to the fact that they controlled their resources with the attendant healthy competition between the two. The former World Bank executive also said that with the advent of military dictatorship in 1966, the fiscal relationship changed following the suspension of the Constitution.

Decree No.l of 1966, which gave the Federal Government, unlimited powers to legislate on "any matter whatsoever" he said, "curtailed the fiscal powers of the federating units." Edevbie who commands a lot of respect among economists and experts on fiscal matters, argued that the transformation that has taken place in Delta State "in the last two years after many years of stagnation and decay provides a strong pedestal for the argument on the need to realign revenue allocation in favour of derivation or indeed resource control in the true spirit of federalism.

" He strongly criticized the Federal Government's insincere approach to the implementation of the 13 per cent derivation principle as enshrined in the Constitution. He argued that: If so much could be achieved with only 7.8 per cent derivation being paid, the state of our development can then best be imagined if the full minimum 13 per cent derivation is paid. By our calculation, our State should have received additional revenue of N20.7 billion.between May 29,1999 and February 1,2001, had the Federal Government respected the Supremacy of constitutional provisions.

The point being made here is that if this pace of development had been maintained or can be sustained and improved upon, there is bound to be stability. On the other hand, when sustained effort is made to retard the progress of the Niger Delta and pauperize its peoples, it is unlikely that the nation can achieve political stability." As a way out of the needless quagmire the Federal Government's unitary policy has thrown the country, he proffered,"... by rearranging the flow of resources in favour of true fiscal federalism, other regions would be forced to develop their hitherto untapped enormous potentials, thereby increasing the total available resources of the entire nation.

Such is bound to create abundant prosperity in all regions and help in no small measure in fostering lasting political stability in our country. For Professor Onigu Otite, Federalism is concerned with the allocation of political power supported by economic rose in the different levels of government. Said he: "Political power and government would be empty without a strong foundation on the economy and the revenue from territorial resources.

The factor of consent is vital in this regard. Many Nigerians who were born during the colonial period or have read their colonial history would agree that the federation of Nigeria was not constituted through voluntary agreement or contract involving indigenous ethnic groups and the states. The Nigerian State preceded its society following our constitutional history based on the exigencies of colonial federal administration.

But we, as involuntary citizens, have the richness of our faculty of reason to recreate the federation and provide acceptable conditions for a better society. But more than this, there is the economic (and revenue) basis for validating our federal existence. No one federal system can fit every country. In the Nigerian case, there must not only be a substantial area of political and legislative action, but each state must be given the challenge to exploit its territorial resources to face the responsibilities expected of it. This point agrees with the clarion call for resource control.

Resource control is not only a design for political stability and interstate friendship, it is also a challenge to every state to examine the resources available in the backyard-territories of their communities. In specific parts of our federation, we have tin, limestone, columbite, coal, zinc, iron ore, gold, silver among others. These and many more can be exploited now, unless there is a dishonest tactful delay until the oil and gas in Delta and other parts of the Niger-Delta are exhausted and their benefits gone elsewhere in the country.

Professor Otite who called for the repeal of "obnoxious and oppressive laws as the 1969 Petroleum Act and the 1978 Land Use Decree among others, ruefully argued; "The more we search for indicators of development in Delta State and other parts of the Niger-Delta, the more evidence -we see of unspeakable pauperization and societal elimination. Since the 1960s, crude oil exploration has meant wealth and boom for some other peoples and other parts of the country while leaving doom, devastation, pollution etc. in the Niger-Delta.

This is what uncle Bola Ige referred to in the July 8 1998 edition of Tell magazine as stealing of other people's property. This social critic asked: "Must you continue to devastate other people land because you are a thief? " By the way Uncle Bola Ige utilized the opportunity of an unwanted, undeserved detention to critically examine the stinking mismatches in the bowel of the nation, I dare say that clever thieves know when to stop stealing.

Those stealing our • resources must stop Now!" He rationalizes: "Taking cognizance of the primacy of bargaining and negotiated co-existence, the recipe for political stability in the Nigerian federation is the fundamental factor of resource control by the component states in a voluntarily negotiated Nigeria, It is the state that can best manage its own resources, and develop its own local peoples and territories.

We want and deserve a stable Nigeria born again through resource control." Professor Margaret Okorodudu-Fubara called for unity among those calling for resource control. She reasoned that unity was an essential ingredient in the struggle as those opposed to it might to literally want to throw a cat among the pigeons of the protagonists. The struggle, she also argued, was the duty of all Deltans not a part or parts of the State.

She was confident that the struggle would be successful. Okorodudu-Fubara appealed to those involved in the management of the State's resources to ensure that the proceeds from the struggle when they eventually come, were judiciously used for the development of the entire State. Professor Bright Ekuerhare, Professor of Economics, did an in-depth historical analysis of the economic relationships, among the different tiers of government in the country.

He described the first phase as the period before the discovery and intensive exploitation of crude petroleum when agriculture sustained the economy. He also said that during the period, "'the component region of governments retained the principal ratio ( revenue accruable to them from the export ' agricultural produce and only surrender a little fraction of it for the upkeep of to central government.

" The second phase, he said, was the period of crude, which was "marked by extreme concentration of fiscal resources in the hands of the Federal Government whilst the component units of Government were compelled to depend on the central government for their finances.'" Blaming Nigeria's warped fiscal federalism on prolonged military adventurism in politics, Ekuerhare said "... the existing distorted and perverse fiscal federalism in Nigeria has essentially been a product of the fact that with the prolonged military rule of the 1966- 79 and 1984-99 periods.

The 1963 Republican Constitution founded on the principle of democratic governance which provided for fiscal reviews every five years was jettisoned. Revenue allocation was based, after 1966, on adhoc arrangements and influenced by the superordinate-subordinate (master servant) relationship between the federal government and the other Units and, consequently, revenue allocation was increasingly based on the principle of unitarism (fiscal centralism) rather than on the principle of fiscal federalism."

Speaking specifically on the Niger ' Delta and the consequences of this unfortunate abandonment of fiscal federalism, he said, " A winter of discontent has, in consequence increasingly descended on the Niger Delta people with disastrous social and economic consequences . for the region and the Nigerian nation." Lamenting the continue neglect of the region, he said it was a handiwork of military elites with civilian and foreign collaborators.

His words: "The second fiscal consequences is that the Niger Delta Region has been the main provider of the fiscal resources in the hands of the federal government, creating as observed earlier, fiscal state over which the various factions of the national governing elite struggle to control.

It can be argued from the available empirical evidence that the factions of the national governing elite that constituted the military oligarchs together with their Nigerian civilian militicians and foreign collaborators who governed Nigeria under the prolonged military rule of the 1970-79 and 1984-99 periods used the fiscal unitaristic Nigerian state to encourage unprecedented primitive accumulation, kleptocracy and monumental resource in Nigeria.

This phenomenon formed the major structural source of economic decline,especially of 1980s and 1990s, manifested in the of incidence of widespread poverty and depriva tion of the majority of the population whilst the military oligarchs together with their Nigerian militicians indulged in conspicuous the consumption and economic surplus expatriation from the Nigerian economy." He commended Governor Ibori for being in the forefront of the agitation for resource control.

He saluted the courage of Southern her Governors for provoking " the current unprecedented historic struggle" for resource control. He warned that: "the survival of democracy and of the Nigerian nation crucially depends on the positive outcome of this struggle"