Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, said on Thursday the report of the All Progressives Congress (APC) committee on restructuring would stoke the already resolved dichotomy on onshore/offshore oil production revenue.
Mimiko stated this in his lecture at the 2018 Yoruba Youth Assembly Lecture with the theme: “National Development, Restructuring and the Yoruba,” held in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The former governor said that while it is commendable that the report endorsed the resource control principle, it has brought back the sensitive and controversial onshore/offshore dichotomy issue.
“While I agree that the fears of all part of the country must be allayed as regards resource control, it is important to note that every part of our land is well resource endowed. With the recent advances in power storage technology in batteries and progressively reducing cost of renewables, we must be constantly reminded that fossil fuel will soon become truly fossil,” he said.
Mimiko expressed his lack of confidence in the APC’s commitment to restructuring with President Muhammadu Buhari’s stand in his New Year message that it is the process of governance in Nigeria rather than the structure that requires some tinkering.
He added: “Rather than waste useful time tinkering with process, the appropriate thing to do is a wholesale review of the nature of the structure, such that it is reconfigured to be able to deliver on its mandate. That the President’s political party, APC, came out very quickly to attempt a reformulation of the President’s proposition is needless, as it is doubtful if the party is in a position to veto the President of the nation.
“That President Buhari made his statement despite the bold and unequivocal commitment of the APC manifesto to restructuring is also indicative of the questionable pattern in which the party swept its way into office some three years ago. APC can, in the circumstances, safely be accused of promising what it never intended to do.”
Source:The Nation
