After the various pre- independence constitutional conferences, the British Colonial government granted independence to Nigeria on October 1, 1960. In 1963, Nigeria attained a Republican status and the 1963 Republican constitution came into effect. In all the conferences that led to this independence , the representatives from all regions agreed and opted for federalism. Under the 1960 and the 1963 Republican Constitution, each region had its Constitution in addition to the Federal Constitution. Under this constitutional setting, the Revenue Allocation System was based on 50% derivation. Section 140 of the 1963 Republican Constitution provide thus;
“There shall be paid by the Federal Government to a region, a sum equal to fifty percent of the proceeds of any royalty received by the Federation in respect of any minerals extracted in that region and any mining rents derived by the Federal Government from within any Region”.
This was the state of the Nigerian Federation as it relates to derivation, agreed upon by then by the constituencies and handed over at independence by the British until the coup of January 1966 and the retaliatory coup of July the same year, which plunged the country into a civil war.
It must be noted however, that the original intention of the 1966 July retaliatory coup was for the North to secede from Nigeria as revealed in the book by Ahmadu Kurfi titled “The Nigerian General Elections 1959 and 1979” Published in 1983 by Macmillan as follows;
“The original intention of the July 29 counter-coup leaders was to seize the reigns of government and then announce the secession of the Northern Region from the rest of the country. This was in line with the general mood of the people of the North whose clarion call during the May 29 disturbances in the North which claimed many Igbo lives, was Araba or Aware ( Hausa word for secede).As soon as the Success of the insurgency was apparent, the leaders of the coup who were based at the Ikeja Garrison informed Northern elements resident in Lagos to leave the metropolis for the North giving a deadline within which to comply. At the expiry of the deadline, the coup leaders planned to dynamite if not sink the whole of Lagos…” (pages 38-39).
The leaders of the July 1966 Coup were advised against that line of action because the North as a region cannot survive without the rich South and its seaports; hence that idea was discarded. General Yakubu Gowon was then made the head of State, above other senior military officers from other parts of the Country.
Whatever was left of the federal structure bequeathed to Nigeria by the Colonial rulers in 1960 was further weakened by General Gowon in 1969 through the promulgation of the Petroleum Decree. This decree abolished the 50% derivation contained in the 1963 constitution and appropriated all revenues derivable from oil to the sole control of the military. General Gowon’s reason for the Petroleum Decree was that he needed monies to prosecute the war and fight Biafra. More than 40 years after the war, the Nigerian oligarchs have not returned the nation to its prewar federal structure.
Today, General TY Danjuma who was the arrowhead of the July 1966 Coup is richer than all the Northern States put together. At some point, General Gowon was quoted as saying that Nigeria’s problem was not money but how to spend it.
Upon the return to democracy in 1979, Nigeria had an opportunity to return the country to a true federal State but this was not to be as General Obasanjo had already perfected plans to further appropriate all the lands of indigenous people of Nigeria to the Federal government through the Land Use Decree of 1978.The Constitutional Conference Chaired by late Chief Rotimi Williams (SAN) to usher in the 1979 constitution did not take into contemplation the derivation principle in the 1963 Constitution.
In 1998 General Sani Abacha died after 5 years of dictatorship. General Abdulsalam Abubakar while handing over power to General Obasanjo just fresh from Jail hurriedly put together Decree 24 of 1999 which is now regarded as the 1999 Constitution. However the 1999 constitution increased derivation to 13% as against the 50 % enshrined in the 1963 Constitution. With 13% derivation coming 30 years after the criminal enactment of the Petroleum Decree, of 1969, the government and people of the oil bearing states saw it as a welcome relief which is better than nothing as it is commonly said. But General Obasanjo was not ready to implement the 13% derivation principle until he was forced to enforce the provisions in accordance with the tenets of constitutional democracy.
The report of the Jonathan 2014 National Conferences is till crying for implementation. One of the major achievement of this conference is the restructuring of the Nigerian nation and return to true federalism.
The Afenifere, the South-East, the South-South and majority of the middle belt region stood for true federalism during the Conference and till date yearn for a return to it. The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which is meant to give a great sense of belonging and a greater percentage to the oil bearing communities has not seen the light of day and possibly gathering dust in the archives of both Chambers of the National Assembly. It is most certain that the North through their majority legislators have continuously moved against its passage into law.
83% of oil Blocks currently belong to ex-military men and business men of Northern extraction, leaving the indigenous owners of these resources to die of diseases and in penury. Nigeria is the only oil producing Nation in the world where these aberrations occur. This “status quo” is what the change is all about. This is what General Buhari has come to entrench and preserve. This is why he is the new minister of Petroleum Resources. It all points to the fact that 55 years of Nigeria’s independence has been all about oil and power grab..
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