NAN-ND-3
Practice
By Nathan Nwakamma
Yenagoa, May 7, 2017 (NAN) An environmentalist, Mr Alagoa Morris, on Sunday called for a reversal of the concentration of developmental projects in the state capitals of the Niger Delta region.
Alagoa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt that the greater chunk of the 13 per cent derivation fund accruing to the oil producing states was spent on the “fanciful” projects sited in the state capitals.
He said that the practice was to the detriment of the rural communities where oil was produced and for which the derivation fund was meant.
Morris said that if the derivation fund was used in developing the rural and oil producing communities the residents would have better living standard.
According to him, the oil firms operating in the Niger Delta sited more visible projects in the communities than the state governments.
“I commend the Federal Government for the derivation policy which ought to have helped to check oil theft in the region, if it was well utilized.
“Unfortunately the oil revenue does not get to the communities and that is the more reason why you have restiveness in these areas.
“Due to this negligence, the oil communities tend to justify petty oil theft. The residents look the other way when people vandalize oil facilities in their communities,” he said. (NAN)
NN/EMO/IS
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Edited by Ejike Obeta/Ismail Abdulaziz