Renowned Niger Delta environmental and human rights activist, Comrade (Chief) Sheriff Mulade Ph.D, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Assembly, and the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to take decisive action in ensuring that the 13% oil derivation fund are directly paid to host communities rather than to state governments.

Mulade, in a strongly worded statement recently issued in Warri, Delta State, said that the current arrangement where state governors receive and manage the 13% derivation fund is a misdirection of host communities' resources into the wrong hands that are denying the oil-bearing communities the right to champion their development by themselves.

“The 13 percent derivation is not ghost money — it has a source, and that source is the Niger Delta host communities where the oil is extracted from,” Mulade declared. 

“Failure to pay the funds directly to the host communities negates the principles of fairness and the very intent of the law establishing the derivation policy,” he charged.

Mulade, who is the Ibe Sorimowei of the ancient Gbaramatu Kingdom, maintained that the state governments have "consistently misappropriated or politically manipulated the funds, leaving the oil-producing areas in deplorable condition with poor infrastructure, polluted environments, and neglected populations."

The peace and environmental advocate proposed a new model for managing the 13% derivation, emphasizing that even channeling the funds through construction companies to build bridges and roads linking the creeks would yield better developmental results than handing the funds to the governors.

He said, “It is imperative to state that the Federal Government should entered a consortium agreement on behalf of the host communities and pay 70% of the 13% oil derivation funds directly to construction companies to handle mega roads and bridge projects to link and open up the riverine areas to the upland, then Niger Delta would witnessed rapid and real development.

"While the balance 30% should be channeled towards human capital development through the Host Communities Development Trust (HCDT) recognise by law under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), for direct impact," he added.

Speaking further he noted that the current practice of paying 13% to state governments "only gives opportunities to the state governors to turn the derivation funds into a political conduit pipe, a tool to compensate political allied and personal enrichment scheme."

The environmentalist described the situation as both illegal and unconstitutional, stressing that the 13% derivation was created to directly benefit the people who suffer the environmental and social consequences of oil exploration.

Mulade also highlighted the historical contribution of Chief Dr. Wellington Okrika, the Bolowei of ancient Gbaramatu Kingdom, who championed the struggle that led to the establishment of the 13% derivation principle, noting that Niger Delta governors have since “fed fat” on the achievement without recognizing or fulfilling their obligations to Okrika or the communities he represented.

He therefore called on the Presidency, the National Assembly, and the RMAFC to immediately begin a review of the payment framework, and to enact a constitutional amendment or administrative directive that would enforce the direct payment of derivation funds to oil-bearing communities through their desire projects in a transparent and accountable mechanisms.

“If President Tinubu truly wants to correct injustices and promote equity in the Niger Delta, he must ensure that the 13% derivation reaches and be impactful to the people for whom it was created — the host communities,” Mulade concluded.

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