AGITATION FOR RESOURCES CONTROL IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Nigerian is a plural or multi-ethnic society. It is made up of over 250 ethnic groups and therefore motley or heterogeneous. The main reason stems from cultural difference and hence to promote peace and unity in diversity. But this objective has been evasive because Nigeria is not operating a true federalism. Since independence the country although a federal polity has been run as a unitary government power has been concentrated at the center and the states lack autonomy needed for a true federal government like those in the western democracies.
    In the western democracies, fiscal autonomy resides largely with the federating units but in Nigeria, the federal governments solely determine what should go to the state. The  worst of all is that the state where the resources are derived social and economic development. In other words, the major producers of the  nation’s resources are excluded from taking part in the share of the profit accruing from the resources and oppressed by certain section of the country who called themselves the major ethnic groups.
    The problem of revenue sharing formular has become or recurring decimal in Nigerians political history. This has been very controversial in the political economic and social life of Nigeria. This gave the impetus for the agitation for resource control by the south-south states. The agitation by the people of the south-south to control their  resources generated a lot of controversies in the polity of this fourth republic. This struggle is traceable to the fiscal manipulation of the revenue accruing to the state from the derivation fund.
    The 1999 constitution posited in section 162 (2) that an amount not less than 13 percent should be paid to the states in respect of the natural resources derive from them. The fourth republic government only observes this provision partly as the 13 percent derivation has never been paid in full since the inception of this Obasojo administration.
    Pique by this opaque attitude of the federal government, the south-south states resorted to the resource control agitation. This is borne out of the fact that oil been the mainstay of Nigerian economy is derived from the south-south. To this extent, the south-south region is entitled to more than the prescription of the constitution. Precisely, the south –south was asking for 50 percent of control of their resources in Nigeria. The in sensitivity of the federal government to the plight of the south-south impelled the governors of this region t put forward this demand in the southern governor’s conference in Benin.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The problems of how to allocate revenue to the different levels of government and what formula or principle to adopt have attracted profound interest among Nigerians. Since the advent of oil in 1970s, the debate on revenue allocation has gathered momentum by the day.
    The age longed agitation for resource control by the oil producing Niger Delta is hinged on provisions of inadequate conpensation for the ecological degradation and pollution on their land as a result of oil exploration by the oil companies. The agitation for resource control is therefore aims at enthroning the practice of true fiscal federalism. As regards this course of action, efforts have been channeled towards adopting an equitable formula for sharing the revenue in the nation.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of this research work are as follow;
To evaluate the capacity of the nation’s federation at harmonizing various nationalities interest examine the effort at the entrenchment of the true fiscal federalism by implementing a fair revenue sharing formula.
To analyze the concept of devolution of power in the federal system of government in Nigeria.
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
To guide this study the following hypotheses have been formulated for testing.
H0: there is no significant relationship between agitation for resource control and increased development.
H1: there is no significant relationship between agitation for resource control and increased development.
H0: there is no significant difference in the northern and southern perceptions on the impact of resource control agitation on their various interest in making Nigeria one.
H0:there is no significant difference in the northern and southern perceptions on the impact of resources control agitation on their various interest in making Nigeria one.
SCOPE OF STUDY
 The main focus of this research work is the agitation for resource control. The study also focuses on revenue allocation in the Nigerian federal system of government. More succinctly, the factors which necessitated the agitation for resources control is also a center of focus. The study is confined to two states out of six states in  the south-south region that ate spearheading the agitation. These state are Bayesa and Delta.
LIMITATION TO THE STUDY
This work is particularly limited by lack of finance to gather enough materials. This financial constraint also obstructed my going out to places in quest for information. As a result of that, it is also counted by the information at the disposal of the researcher.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
In view of the significant roles concept play in any empirical research work, the need equally arises from the definitions of some concept used. In investigating the phenomenon state above the following concepts were employed.
Federalism: scholars are yet to come into consensus on the term federalism. Consequently, a highly varied menu of meanings is available. For instance, Wheare (1967:6) sees federal principle or federalism as a method of dividing powers so that the federal and regional government are independent in their respective pheres of jurisdiction. To William living stone (1945:9) federal government is device by which the federal   qualities of the society is articulated and protected.
Looking at it from the articulated point of view of I.A.Jinadu (1979:18) observes that:
    Federalism is usually viewed as a form of governmental and institutional structure deliberately designed by political architects to cope with the twin but difficult task of maintaining unity while also preserving diversity. The unity exists in so far as all the theories agree on common denominator of government within a federation.
Fiscal Federalism: fiscal federalism in this context means an equitable formula for the allocation of the revenue in any federal setting. It also means that the constituent units should be allowed an autonomy over the resources derivable from them. No level is subordinate to the other.
Resource Controls: Resource control simply means that ownership of the resource should reveal to the real and natural owners who live with the resources and preclude the death sentence of absentee landlordism and artificial ownership. It means that the oil producing states should be granting licenses to the multi-national corporations to explore oil and the state monitor the extraction to avoid damage in order to enhance development.
References
Jinadu I.A (1979). “ A note on the theory of federalism in Akinyemi B. (Ed), readings on Federalism Nigeria: (Ibadan: University Press).
Livingstone, W.A. 91945). Federalism and Constitutional change. (London, Oxford University Press Ltd).
Wheare K.C 91967). Federal government (New York Free Press).
The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria  Section 162 (2)
Vanguard, June 15, 2005
Vanguard September 9. 2005.

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