Why we recommended 18% for oil-producing states, by Gambari

Speech by Prof Ibrahim Gambari, one of the leaders of the Elders Consensus Group which deliberated on the derivation principle.

“I have the honour to present to this plenary the outcome of the consultation that was held in to find the way forward and promote consensus on a very key issue that has the capacity to divide this house and even may be this country.
Mr. Chairman, there was a big relief and high expectation at plenary yesterday when General Ike Nwanchukwu announced that a group of delegates has been working to broker agreement on the issue of derivation and related matters because we all know how emotional the matter is and it has to be handled carefully.

The group started with the leaders of the six geopolitical zones and was latter expanded to include the representatives of labour, employers’ association, women and civil societies. For two nights and two days, the group was engaged in promoting consensus on the way forward with regards to the issue of derivation and related matters.

After two days and two nights, here is what we arrived at: We arrived at this conclusions and in doing that among us there has been shift of positions on the parts of the two positions already taken by our numbers in the spirit of compromise and putting Nigeria first and above the interest of our respective zones and constituencies, recognising that status quo is not sustainable. We have always felt that anytime we reduce our discussion to our village level, primordial level, state level, zonal level we are likely to run into problems, until when we raise the

level to what unites us more than what divide us.
Now one pole began with the position that was embodied in the recommendations of the committee on Devolution of Power all the way from 13% to 15% to 17% and not less than 18%. Another position shifted from the high figure of 100%, 50% to 21.5% to 20% and finally to not less than 18% to be reviewed every ten years.

Therefore, this group adopted a position and to recommend to the plenary not less than 18% as the derivation formula but the group did not end there. As a package we propose two recommendations: one, for 5% revenue allocation to be made available for solid minerals development. We have overrelied on oil and the time has come to pay attention to other resources throughout the country.
The second and perhaps much more urgent is that we have recommended a new fund to be established which will be called fund for stabilisation, rehabilitation and reconstruction, 5% of revenue allocation, principally for the North East, North West and the North Central.
This recommendations if endorsed will be reflected in the revenue allocation Act. We have also recommended that what is happening now is not the problem of North east but that of Nigeria but more dramatically in the North east; we have also recommended broadly a safe guard and mechanism to ensure that monies go to those who need them most and to also enhance the production of mineral resources that our country is endowed with.
Finally, in reaching this conclusion, this group is only motivated by one thing; which is just to provide an avenue to reach a consensus rather than voting. We do not believe that voting will really move us forward.