The Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa has threatened that South-South governors would assume control of oil and gas in their states if Zamfara state government continues to control and manage gold deposits in the NorthWestern state.
Speaking during his 2020 quarterly media interaction in Asaba, Delta State, Governor Okowa said no law of the country permits Zamfara State Government to control and manage gold deposits in the northern state.
Okowa who noted that governors of South-South region will soon take up the matter with the Federal Government, added that South-South governors would have no option than to assume control of oil and gas in their states if the matter was not properly addressed.
He also noted that governors of the oil-rich region, ministers, lawmakers and other stakeholders would meet on Friday, at Port-Harcourt, Rivers state, to deliberate and take a position on the matter and other issues.
While asserting that South-South governors believe in restructuring and resource control, Governor Okowa applauded the efforts of the South-South Governors noting that they have been faring considerably well amidst the challenges they face in the development of their respective states.
According to him: “South-South governors before now have been talking about the need for restructuring and need for resource control, obviously we are on that because we feel there is the need to restructure not only the country, but the management of resources.
“But as at today, there are acts in the National Assembly that guide the issue of oil production and with the solid minerals, those are not covered in these acts and obviously, this is already a sore point in our nation’s governance system and we hope to express this very strongly during the meeting taking place in Portharcourt on Friday.
“We cannot apply laws in our nation to the point that it becomes discriminatory because if people are allowed to process for their solid minerals, they should also be allowed to do same for their oil. So we are going to be very hard and try to make our voice as strong as possible during the meeting.
“I believe that at some point in time, these discriminatory tendencies will have to be revisited in our nation at some point in time.”
