Why the North opposed PIB —Yobe ex-gov

FORMER governor of Yobe State, Senator Bukar Abbah Ibrahim, has given reasons the northern political establishment is opposed to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), insisting that the bill, as presented, aims at putting more money in the oil producing communities.Senator Ibrahim, who addressed newsmen at the Senate Press Centre, National Assembly, on Monday, said the bill did not take into consideration the need to source for other resources outside the oil producing zone.

He also attacked the opposition raised by the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, to the call for dialogue with Boko Haram sect, saying that opposition to dialogue was shocking.

The senator said the North had remained marginalised since the implementation of 13 per cent derivation fund which, he said, had left so much money in the oil producing states.

He stated that a report commissioned by the Federal Government and chaired by Alhaji Ibrahim Bunu showed recently that the North-East was the most marginalised with just N90 billion projects ongoing and abandoned, while the South-South had over N2 trillion worth of projects.

Commenting on Oritsajefor’s comments on Boko Haram, Senator Ibrahim said he was not surprised because, according to him, the cleric did not feel the intensity of the damage to life and property in the affected areas.

The former governor said it was shocking that “CAN president wants us to continue killing ourselves rather than dialoguing and getting peace.”