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Tag: Bayelsa Govt

  • Obey Supreme Court order, Bayelsa Govt urges RMAFC

    Obey Supreme Court order, Bayelsa Govt urges RMAFC

    The Bayelsa Government has urged the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to obey the Supreme Court order over the disputed Soku oil and gas fields, which ownership is in contention between Bayelsa and Rivers States.

    Gov. Douye Diri made the call on Thursday when he received a fact-finding team from the federal agency in Government House, Yenagoa.

    Newsmen reports that the governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Mr Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said the apex court had given an order for proper demarcation of the boundary between the two states as decisive step to resolve the impasse.

    He lamented that while the National Boundaries Commission is yet to implement the order, the RMAFC decided to be paying accruals from the disputed Soku oil wells to Rivers State following a later judgement by a lower court on the same issue.

    The governor said, for the sake of equity and justice, the accruals should be saved in an escrow account pending the final resolution of the matter.

    He also recalled that the Bayelsa State Government had since secured a judgement against the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) which is yet to be implemented by the Commission.

    Diri, who charged the RMAFC to strictly apply the right indices for revenue allocation and distribution, said the Commission needed to be more circumspect in taking decisions in respect of revenue disputes between states in the country.

    According to him, the present revenue distribution formula does not meet the development needs of Nigeria as a Republic with 36 federating units, and called on the Commission to display integrity and competence in ensuring that the right thing is done.

    His words: “For us in Bayelsa, the indices being applied and used for revenue distribution are not correct, but skewed against us. Your duty as revenue allocation commission is quite a big responsibility to ensure the application of the right indices.

    “An issue I want to speak about briefly here is the RMAFC’s hasty decisions on revenue disputes between states.
    “We have an issue with the Rivers State Government over the disputed Soku oil wells. While the matter is yet to be resolved, we expect the accruals to be paid into an escrow account.

    “There is subsisting Supreme Court judgement on the matter. The Supreme Court said go and demarcate the boundary.

    “While that has not been done, the Rivers State Government is relying on a lower court judgement on same issue to get all the revenues from the assets.

    “In another instance, the Bayelsa State Government got a favourable judgement against the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), for which we expected the RMAFC to also give us our money but it had not complied,” he said.

    Speaking earlier, the Leader of the RMAFC delegation, Mr Andrew Agbaga, said the 12-member team was part of the Indices and Distribution Committee of the Commission, which is currently visiting all the states in the country.

    Agbaga, who is the Federal Commissioner representing Delta State at the Commission, disclosed that their assignment in the state was to verify whether what is approved and distributed by RMAFC is what actually gets to the states and local government areas.

    He said another justification for the visit was to see if the indices being used for revenue disbursement were in conformity with approved principles.

  • Odioma Crisis: Bayelsa Govt. reads riot act to Council of Chiefs, sets up 6-man committee

    Odioma Crisis: Bayelsa Govt. reads riot act to Council of Chiefs, sets up 6-man committee

    The Bayelsa Government has given members of the Odioma Council of Chiefs in Brass Local Government Area (LGA), the option to either withdraw their membership of political parties or resign outright from the traditional leadership council.

    This is even as the state government constitutes a six-man peace and reconciliation committee to look into the immediate and remote causes of the communal unrest and insecurity threatening the peace of Odioma community.

    Gov. Douye Diri, of Bayelsa gave the order on Tuesday at an enlarged meeting with the chairman and members of the Odioma Council of Chiefs and other critical stakeholders of Odioma in Government House, Yenagoa.

    Newsmen reports that the governor, represented by his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said his administration would not tolerate the breakdown of law and order in Odioma or any other community in the state.

    He advised them to live together in peace and avoid actions capable of causing a recurrence of the 2005 experience in which Federal military troops invaded and destroyed Odioma.

    He stressed the need for Odioma Chiefs to remain apolitical and more proactive in addressing critical communal issues.

    He therefore warned that henceforth, members of the Odioma Council of Chiefs who belong to any political party should either resign from the council or withdraw their political party membership to enable them to lead the people without divided interests.

    His said: “Under our watch, we cannot allow history to repeat itself at Odioma, because we all witnessed what happened there in 2005. We want to avoid a recurrence of that.

    “For now the Police would remain there until we have resolved all the major issues. Secondly, the council of chiefs must be more proactive and live up to your responsibilities.

    “As chiefs, you should drop your party membership card the moment you are elected a chief, because they are irreconcilable.

    “So I want you the chiefs to know this: Once you are a member of the council, quit the political parties.
    “As you are leaving here, PDP members go and resign your PDP membership; likewise APC members go and resign your APC membership. If you are not ready to do that, then resign from the council,” he said.

    The six-man Odioma Peace and Reconciliation Committee has the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Biriyai Dambo (SAN), as Chairman, while the Special Adviser to the governor on Security Matters, CP Akpoebi Agberebi (Rtd) is to serve as Secretary.

    Other members of the Committee are the Member representing Brass Constituency 2 at the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon. Timi Omubo-Agala; the Technical Adviser on Conflict Resolution, Chief Boma Spero-Jack; the Commissioner of Police, CP Ben Nebolisa Okolo, and the state director of DSS.

    The Committee has one month to complete its assignment.

  • Bayelsa Govt. drags Agip to court, demands N1.6trn compensation for 2013 oil spill

    The Bayelsa State Government has dragged Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt over an oil spillage from the company’s SBM Sirius, in Brass Local Government Area of the state.

    The government filed an originating summon through the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Kemeasuode Wodu.

    According to the copy of the summons received by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Yenagoa, the state government is demanding N1.6 trillion compensation.

    The court papers indicate that the damage claim is for general and exemplary damages from the spill, which occurred on November 27, 2013.

    The originating summons, in compliance to Order 3 Rule 9 of the court, said the spill contravened the provisions of Regulation 13 of the Petroleum Regulation made pursuant to the Pursuant Act Cap P10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

    The Bayelsa government in the suit is also seeking an injunction restraining the defendant, from further discharging onto or allowing crude oil to the waters of and around the said SBM Sirius, Offshore Brass oil export facility.

    Another relief sought include an order directing NAOC to provide potable drinking water for the communities in Bayelsa impacted by the said crude spillage from the said SBM Sirius operated by the defendant.

    The Bayelsa government added that the defendant should be ordered to take all appropriate steps towards restoring the land, swamps, rivers and waters impacted by the spillage and pay compensation to all persons whose properties were destroyed.

    It prayed the court to declare that the action or conduct of the defendant in allowing or causing petroleum to escape from its facility was as a result of operational error into the waters of and around the said SMB facility which flowed into the sea and parts of Bayelsa.

    The plaintiff also demanded a declaration that the defendant by allowing or causing petroleum to escape from its facility as a result of its operational error, contravened Regulation 13 of the Petroleum Act Cap P10 laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

    The Bayelsa government also want the court to declare that “the defendant is under a legal obligation to restore the lands, rivers, creeks and the entire environment impacted by the spill from on November 27, 2013 to their original state before they were impacted.”

    The plaintiff also asked the court to declare that the defendant was under a legal obligation to pay compensation to all persons whose properties were polluted in the State by the said crude oil that escaped from the SBM Sirius facility.