Governor Nyesom Wike of Cross River State.
By Egufe Yafugborhi
GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has described as unfortunate, the pressure mounted on Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, by his Bayelsa State counterpart, Governor Duoye Diri, to stop paying Rivers State revenue accruing from Soku oil wells being disputed by both states.
Wike, who hosted RMAFC delegation in Port Harcourt, yesterday, also canvassed a new revenue sharing formula that would cede more funds to the state than the Federal Government.
He said to the RMAFC team: “It is unfortunate that the Bayelsa State governor told you when you visited him that you should not pay us revenue from Soku oil wells.
“The matter was at the Supreme Court when the National Boundary Commission admitted that they made error in their 11th edition publication by situating Soku oil well in Bayelsa.
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“They were, therefore, directed to correct the error in their 12th edition publication. When they also failed to effect the correction, we had to go back to court. The court in its wisdom directed that all revenue accruing from Soku oil wells be paid to Rivers.
“That is the position. For Bayelsa State governor to come up to say that you should not pay us our money is unfortunate. If they have filed a matter at the Supreme Court, it is not an injunction to stop implementation of the subsisting judgment.”
Leader of the delegation, Alhaji Mohammed Usman, said the visit would afford them the time to sensitise the relevant financial officers in the state on the importance of providing correct data to the commission.
