By Dapo Akinrefon

The Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination, NINAS, on Friday, alleged that the recently signed Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, was skewed in favour of the north and an attempt by some vested interests to hijack the assets of the indigenous people of Southern Nigeria.

NINAS also vowed to embark on mass actions against Southern Governors who allow grazing routes in their states.

The body alleged that non-oil producing states with no environmental degradation like Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa and Katsina are to benefit more from the PIA than oil producing states of Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Delta, Abia, Imo, and Rivers.

NINAS, in a statement by its Chairman, Professor Banji Akintoye and Communications Manager, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye, said the organization shall apply the instrumentalities of the law and intellectualism to repel the act.

The statement reads: “For the sake of clarity, the much-publicized PIA allocated three per cent of total oil revenue to oil producing communities in the Niger Delta Regions of Delta, Imo, Abia, Edo, Ondo, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa with massive environmental degradation and health hazard while 30% of the total oil revenue were allocated to the Northern States under the guise of funding oil exploration in frontier basins such as Sokoto, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Bauchi, etc.

“The economic implication of this act is that 30% of the profit accrued from oil revenue explored from the South will be given to the Northern States for oil search that may never be found till eternity.

“With these funds, we can now say without any fear or favour that some states mentioned above that contribute little or nothing to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and generate almost zero Value Added Tax (VAT) to the federation account would now be more financially buoyant than oil producing states through the fraudulent PIA. 

“When taken in conjunction with the Federation Account sharing system in the fraudulent 1999 Constitution that shares oil revenues based on Local Government Areas that has been manipulated to give higher numbers of local government areas to the far north – Kano and Lagos both started out with 20 LGA but now Kano and Jigawa have 71 LGA’s – land size that completely favors the far north, and population that is easily manipulated, the APARTHEID of the South to Middle Belt has been tightened to drive more than the current 100 Million Nigerians into more abject poverty.

“Thus, we urge the Southern Governors’ Forum and other leaders within the alliance territory to reject this gross attempt to use the wealth of the south to feed the north.

“We assure our people that we shall fight to recover our assets back within the ambits of both the local and international laws as clearly stated in the Constitutional Force Majeure proclaimed on December 16, 2020 with a call to a UN supervised Referendum by the ethnic blocs.

“We also urge Governors within the NINAS territory to respect the wishes of their people on the issue of the grazing reserve being planned by the central government for Fulani Herdsmen.

“We say with all sense of modesty and responsibility that the grazing route is an attempt towards grabbing our ancestral land through the back door which must be rejected by all means necessary.

“This is not a threat, but an advice – any Governor who cedes our land to the central government for Fulani Herdsmen’s grazing reserve should be ready to face the wrath of the people.

“Such a Governor should be ready to answer to their people on why the rights of the people are being trampled upon and their land allowed to be invaded by a group that has demonstrated that all they are there to do is kill and take over their ancestral lands. 

“Such a governor should know that while the NINAS movement for self-determination is peaceful, this continued pandering to killers, most of whom are being brought in from outside of Nigeria, ceding an inch of their ancestral lands will result in such mass peaceful action that may rumble his state to the foundation.”