The Committee on Devolution of Power at the on-going National Conference, after four days of consistent debate and disagreement on Wednesday, reached a consensus on modification of the contentious Item 39 of the Exclusive Legislative List.
The item deals with the exclusive rights of the Federal Government to legislate on issues regarding “mines and minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas.”
According to the modified version, the Federal Government in carrying out mining activities across the country, government of states where such natural resources are deposited shall be involved.
The modification of the item which has been a major cause of set-back in the Committee’s deliberation was celebrated by members shortly after Professor Nsongurua Udombana, a delegate from Akwa Ibom State, moved the motion for the modification.
The item was reframed to read: “Mines and all minerals, including oil fields, oil mining, geological surveys and natural gas, provided that: (A) The government of the state where mining activities take place shall be involved in matters relating hereto; (B) The government of the Federation shall make special grants to develop mines and minerals in states where such resources are undeveloped.”
The decision of the Committee was described by some delegates as the democratization and decentralization of industrial development through strategic mining of mineral resources nationwide.
Former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and Co-chairman of the Committee, Obong Victor Attah, who briefed the press after a two-hour close session on the issue, expressed delight that the committee was able to arrive at a consensus after a very tedious debate process.
He said the modification of the provision was a part of the decision of the Committee and by extension, the National Conference, aimed at ensuring that certain economic activities hitherto concentrated in the Federal Government were decentralized.
According to him, the Committee, in the performance of its functions, was determined to be thorough particularly in considering movement of items from the Exclusive to the Concurrent List and vice versa.
Attah, described discussions on Item 36 as difficult since there were those who felt that because the resources belong to areas where they are found, the item should be moved to the Concurrent List.
On the other hand, he said others believed that since it was not all the states that boast of huge deposit of mineral resources, those who have such resources would have imbalance advantage over the poor states.
Attah said the decision to reframe the provision as proposed, was in consideration of the fact that since the item would still be in the Exclusive Legislative List, then state governments were not in a position to issue licenses to those interested in exploiting the mineral resources.
He disclosed that the focus of the Committee in reviewing the Exclusive Legislative List was to find ways of getting areas where mineral deposits are found involved in the business of mining those resources for a better Nigeria.
