Alleged marginalisation: Reps committee threatens sanction against Niger Delta minister

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions has asked the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Hon. Abubakar Momoh, to appear before it on April 18, 2024, unfailingly or face severe sanction for allegedly shunning the committee’s summons.

The Minister had earlier been summoned to appear before the committee on March 7, 2024, but failed or refused to appear or be represented by any subordinate, an action that was said to have angered the committee chairman, Hon Mike Etaba, to threaten sanction against him if he fails to appear on April 18 to defend a petition filed against him by the Benin National Congress, BNC, over alleged marginalisation against Edo South Senatorial District in project distribution by his Ministry.

The committee chairman, who was said to have expressed his disappointment at the non-appearance of the minister or any of his representatives during the sitting, threatened to explore constitutional provisions against the minister if he failed to appear in the next hearing.

Members of the Benin National Congress and other prominent Benin indigenes who attended the sitting on March 7 have insisted that, for the interest of peace, fairness, and justice, the oil and gas-producing areas of Edo South deserve to be allocated seventy per cent of capital projects, as against the alleged marginalisation perpetrated in the distribution of projects by the Niger Delta Ministry against the Edo South senatorial district.

This was contained in a letter titled “Our Grouse With the 2024 Capital Projects Appropriation by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs,” which they submitted to the Committee Chairman, Hon Mike Etaba

This is a sequel to an earlier petition to the House by the BNC against the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Hon. Abubakar Momoh, accusing him of unfair project distributions and sidelining Edo South Senatorial District.

Recall that the Benin National Congress, in a petition signed by its President, Aiyamenkhue Edokpolo, and the Secretary-General, Comrade Maxwell Uwagboe, titled “Unfair Exclusion of Edo South Senatorial District for the Allocation of Projects and Amenities,” by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Abubakar Momoh, urged the National Assembly to investigate the Minister’s action.

The petition was adopted by the member representing Egor/Ikpoba-Okha Federal Constituency, Hon Murphy Omoruyi. Soon after, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas directed the House Committee on Public Petitions to investigate the petition by the Benin National Congress.

The Benin socio-cultural organisation accused the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Abubakar Momoh, of unfair treatment of the people of Edo South senatorial district of Edo State in the distribution of projects and other amenities.

Portions of the letter by the BNC and prominent Edo South leaders and their demands: “The letters and spirit of the said budget offend clearly the core mandate of the Ministry, as it concerns the interests of the aforementioned oil and gas producing localities of Edo State, which were gravely undermined and/or spitefully neglected.

“That the capital projects allocation or appropriation be reviewed with a clear 70% (seventy per cent) to 30% (thirty per cent) distribution formula in favour of Edo State oil, gas, and host communities.

“That the 70% (seventy per cent) to 30% (thirty per cent) distribution formula be made standard practice in the Ministry’s future budgeting and/or appropriation. That a mechanism be instituted for needs assessment in the relevant oil and gas producing and host communities, among others.

They further added, “The minister should be called in order to stop this anti-Benin tendency that he is having. We welcome his appointment as minister, of course, and it is the prerogative of Mr. President to choose a minister from anywhere.

“We are not against his appointment, but to completely marginalise Edo South is completely unacceptable to us. Our youths are boiling and to avoid their tendency to resort to self-help, we chose to come to the National assembly

“The letters and spirit of the said budget offend clearly the core mandate of the Ministry, as it concerns the interests of the aforementioned oil and gas-producing localities of Edo State, which were gravely undermined and/or spitefully neglected,” they declared.