Only 10 states contribute to FG’s coffer – Confab delegate

A delegate at the ongoing national conference, Prof. G. G. Darah, yesterday claimed that only 10 states contributed to the country’s national earnings, describing others as “mere collectors.”
Darah, a university teacher, represents Delta state in the South-south region of the country at the confab.
He listed the states as Abia, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Ondo, Edo and Lagos. Of all these, only Lagos, which, he said, “generates a lot of resources from the ports and Value Added Tax(VAT) is not an oil producing state.”

Condemning the system, Darah who spoke while featuring on an AIT segment on the national dialogue, said some states with no contribution to the national income boasted of higher number of local governments, while those contributing had the least.
He said: “The federal government as presently constituted will have to be decongested to allow for effective control while those in whose domains the resources are domiciled are allowed to take charge of these resources.

“Only ten states contribute to the nation’s coffer, the nine oil producing states and Lagos with VAT and ports. All others come to Abuja and take money. Some local government chairmen even go to the office whenever there is allocation, share the money and go.  We must kill this ineptitude once and for all; we must do away with this vampires and empires.”

“The federal government has a lot of money to play with. In Nigeria we have 451 MDAs being run by oil money stolen from the Niger Delta. America has 15 ministers, while Nigeria has 42.   There has to be an end to this.
“Delta state where I come from, which ranks fourth in oil and gas production, coming after Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom, has 25 local governments and there is another state which is not contributing anything, but has 44 local governments. Again, all these will be trashed out at this conference. This injustice cannot continue.”