REVENUE ALLOCATION AND AGITATION FOR RESOURCE CONTROL

ABSTRACT

The study examined the relationship between revenue allocation and the agitation for resource control by the Niger Deltans. It explained the concepts and dynamics of revenue allocation and agitation for resource control in Nigeria. The study made use of secondary sources of data. From the data collected, the study discovered that, central to the issue of agitation for resource control by the Niger Delta people is the shift from the derivation principle of revenue allocation to the sharing principle by the federal government. As such the study made recommendations that would enable a reversal to the derivation principle as a way to end the agitation for resource control by the Niger Delta people.

Finally, the study concluded that the onus lies with the federal government to act fast and bring to an end, the agitation, for the interest of the whole Nigeria and her international partners.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Since the inception of the entity called Nigeria following the 1914 amalgamation, there has been schemes, schedules, modes, methods and patterns of relationship among the federating units in terms of administration and finance (Chijioke et al, 2013). This according to Adeleke (2013: 145) was carried over to the post independence Nigeria where unrelenting struggle for resource control and revenue allocation has constituted a threat to the continued existence of Nigeria as one indivisible nation. The year 1957 marked a turning point in the history of Nigeria Federating nation as oil was discovered as its main source of economy, for instance, before then, the Northern part of the country is reputed for the production of groundnut pyramid, the West cocoa production while oil palm was produced in commercial quantity by the Eastern region (Adeleke, 2013). The crisis associated with the control of oil resources has to do with the formula for allocating the oil revenue among component units of the nation, in that each state is scheming and embarking on political manipulations with the intention of getting more allocation for its area (Adeleke, 2013).