By Edward T. Dibiana
The former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Patrick Ekpotu, has said that the furore over the recent disclosure of sales of “Zamfara gold” to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was misplaced, as he argued that people should rather “worry about the inability of states to step up their investment fundamentals by performing similar feat and creating revenues for their respective states.
Ekpotu, in an exclusive interview with 365Daily, said, “the development of oil mineral and solid minerals like gold do not all come under the same governing laws”, and so should not be viewed from the same prism.
“Most state governments had obtained solid mineral concessions and mining rights from the Federal Government and set up their state-owned mining concerns to generate revenue and employment. Zamfara state government may have been one of such title holders. And if the state earned its gold as a product of this endeavour, it should have unrestricted rights, like any other miner, to sell its produce to whoever wishes to buy”. The former deputy governor said.
The Zamfara state Governor, Bello Matawalle, recently displayed bars of gold, termed “Zamfara gold”, which was sold to the CBN.
That disclosure elicited animated debate across the nation, over the legality and propriety of a state government selling what is supposed to be a commonwealth of the nation, especially as the Niger Delta region, which produces the oil revenue that has remained the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, doesn’t appropriate the same oil wealth to itself.
For instance, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, recently on the floor of the Senate, kicked against the development, arguing that Zamfara state doesn’t have the right to sell the mineral resources that belong to the federal government.
The Senator who is from Delta state in the Niger Delta region, had said, “Not too long ago, we saw the Governor of Zamfara State come before the CBN to present a gold bar worth close to about N5billion. The gold bar was presented for sale to the CBN. Mr. President, our people are beginning to wonder who owns this gold that is being sold to the CBN.
“They don’t sell oil in any of the Niger Delta states. I am wondering why the governor of a state should be selling gold bar from Zamfara State to the CBN. There are two problems with that. We believe that whatever revenue that ought to come from that transaction belongs to the entire country and not to the state government. That is number one and we should actually look into that. That is an area we really need to develop. There is a lot of revenue that could come from there that will take the burden from these international borrowings,” the deputy senate president said.
But Ekpotu, who is also from the same Niger Delta region (Akwa Ibom), said that “sale of gold by a state government does not appear to me as strong enough reason to inspire such a controversy. Co-existence and working together in a civil state is possible only through the guidance of the law. The development of oil mineral and solid minerals like gold do not all come under the same governing laws.
“About 34 pieces of legislation govern the development of the oil sector in Nigeria. Leading these laws are our 1999 Constitution (as amended) which followed its predecessors and the Minerals Ordinances of 1945 (that made all mineral the property of the Crown, which was succeeded by the Federal Government upon independence) and the Petroleum Act. These laws vested ownership and control of oil found anywhere in Nigeria in the Federal Government.
“The Federal Government participates directly in petroleum operations through the National Oil Company, the NNPC. It is the title owner of mineral oil and is also the title holder of all leases through the NNPC.
“Also belonging to it is solid minerals. But the laws regulating and guiding its development is different and anchored on helping to develop a private sector-led mining initiative, under small and medium scale, individuals and partnerships industrial schemes. Here, Government plays restricted role of an administrator/regulator through the minister in charge. It is this same pattern that solid mineral nations like Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Niger, etc. are being actively explored and mined. In this case, the Federal Government is also the title owner, but the title holders of Leases or Licenses are the private sector operators. This is how the laws have shaped the operation of the two sectors.
“I do not understand why the hand-wringing and anxiety or where the “potential to compromise peace” flows from. We don’t always have to muse about underhanded tactics in everything in the country. I also don’t think it is the best of times to overdraw situations to add to our jolting moments. We cannot keep reliving our past nightmares. Rather than read hyper-meanings into non-existent dichotomies, true students of economic politics would worry about the inability of their state to step up their investment fundamentals by performing similar feat and creating revenues instead of embracing divisive populist agenda focused on redistributing income rather that creating it. After all, there is no state without solid minerals in Nigeria.
About the prudence or otherwise of CBN’s investment in such commodity, I think that is for CBN to explain, so as to have our curiosity taken off the realm of speculation. One could only guess that given what gold is worth in the global commodity market, such transaction could in due course, with transparency and accountability, translate to much more revenue to the federation account than was spent in buying it.” Ekpotu said.