Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has said that the Niger Delta did not plan for anything less than 50 percent derivation at the national conference.
Speaking in Asaba on the derivation controversy at the confab, Uduaghan expressed hope that the issue would be resolved by the mature men at the confab.
“Our position on this is that we should have resource control and that is 100 per cent, but we also know that as Nigerians, it has to be give and take, and that if we have to concede, it should be 50 per cent.
“But as we monitored the events at the confab, we saw the committee come up with a status quo, which is not less than 13 per cent and people said ‘no, it cannot be that’. They have been negotiating between 18 per cent and 25 per cent.
“In fact, a few days ago, there were some interactions between the governors and some of our representatives on that. But I think they were settling at 18 per cent when another issue was brought in, which they call five per cent for the North-East, North -Central and North-West alone and the other members are saying no, but it is like 18 per cent for South-South.
“That means you have added five per cent to the derivation on one hand. However, the people we have there are all matured persons and I commend them because it has not resulted into violence. Their negotiations have been going on, and as at Wednesday, there was still a stalemate
“We should just allow the negotiation process to continue. It is good for us as a country and democracy that we are on the same table to negotiate in the best interest of the nation because at the end of the day, we must also realise that we are the same country, so there must be some balancing.”
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