By Ephraim Oseji
Delta State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in 2007 general elections, Chief Sunny Onuesoke says he supports the Delta State government proposal that Nigeria’s federating units should exercise 100 per cent right to own, explore, manage and use their natural and human resources.

He also agreed with state government’s call for the creation of a state police to exist side by side with the federal police.

Speaking to newsmen in Asaba, after a dinner hosted by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, Onuesoke called for the abrogation of “obnoxious laws” that impeded true practice of fiscal federalism in the country, including the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Onuesoke who is a Special Project Director in the governor’s office in Asaba, noted that all the states in the country were abundantly endowed with mineral resources and “the adoption of fiscal federalism will challenge and inspire them to pay attention in exploiting these resources to fund development at whatever pace they may choose.”

According to him, the principle of derivation should apply in such a manner that each of the federating units could receive an agreed percentage of proceeds from the resource derived from its territory, while the balance would go to what he called the Distributable Pool Account. Onuesoke suggested that the Federal Government could collect 40 percent, and 50 percent to the states, while 20 percent could go to a special fund from the DPA, adding that the proceeds from Value Added Tax (VAT) could be shared in the ratio of 40 per cent to the DPA, 50 percent to the states and 10 per cent to the special fund. On state police, he said its creation could complement the activities of the federal police to provide adequate security in the spirit of true federalism.