By Shadrack Frank
The South-South Governors’ Forum (SSGF) has described President Bola Tinubu’s Executive Order on oil revenue remittances as historic and far-reaching.
The forum chairman, Mr Douye Diri, on Wednesday said the region’s governors welcomed the directive mandating direct remittance of all oil and gas revenues to the federation account.
Diri, also Governor of Bayelsa, called the order “comprehensive, unambiguous and heart-warming,” saying it restored constitutional integrity to Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
He said the directive raised hope after years of opaque and complex deduction structures in oil revenue management.
According to him, federal, state and local governments would now receive their rightful entitlements from the federation account.
He said: “The South-South region particularly welcomes the key provisions of the Executive Order, which will eliminate opaque deductions.
“It will effectively strip the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of the nebulous 30 per cent Frontier Exploration Fund, which created large idle cash balances.”
He added that mandating operators under Production Sharing Contracts to remit Royalty Oil, Tax Oil and Profit Oil directly would plug revenue leakages.
“This decision is a positive step towards fiscal justice for sub-nationals, particularly oil-producing states.
“It will potentially increase funds for infrastructure, healthcare, education and other sectors across the three tiers of government.”
Diri also welcomed the President’s plan to review the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), describing it as evidence of responsive leadership.
He said Bayelsa and other states had consistently called for a review, warning that the current Act was “a ticking time bomb”.
“The PIA, as designed, cut off states and local councils to deal directly with communities.
“It is our submission that the reduction of oil communities’ share from 10 per cent to three per cent be revisited,” he said.
He urged the Federal Government to review provisions excluding states and councils from administering community entitlements.
“The states and councils are closer to the communities. Excluding them was wrong. The current Act is a recipe for crisis,” he said.
(NAN)