Governors of the 36 States of the federation under the umbrella of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, on Wednesday, expressed concern over the proposed ownership structure of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation as contained in the Petroleum Industry Bill recently passed by the National Assembly.
The governors, who fully supported the unbundling of the cooperation, faulted the proposed ownership structure which gives undue advantage to the Federal Government.
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This was contained in a communique issued after the 32nd Teleconference meeting of the forum.
Ekiti State governor and chairman of the NGF, Kayode Fayemi, said that the forum, therefore, recommends that given that the corporation is owned by the three tiers of government, the newly incorporated entity (NNPC Limited) should be owned by a vehicle that holds the interest of the three tiers of government – for now, the institution that is positioned to carry out this mandate is the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
“This amendment, as well as the proposed three percent share of oil revenue to host communities and 30 percent share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins, will be responded to at the relevant channels including the National Assembly and the National Economic Council (NEC),” he said.
Fayemi said the forum received an update from the Governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu on the recent rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The governors called for consensual actions to prevent a third wave in the country.
“Following the update, the Forum called on all State Governors to revive their COVID protocols and collaborate with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to take appropriate and immediate actions to flatten the transmission curve.
“The forum will interface with the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 to accelerate processes required to fast track the delivery of additional vaccines for the country, ” he added.
On the Nigerian Postal Service Bill, 2021 & Stamp Duties Collection, Fayemi said the Forum expressed concern with certain proposed amendments to the Principal Stamp Duties Act by the Nigerian Senate which seeks to remove the powers to administer and collect stamp duties from the relevant tax authorities (Federal Inland Revenue Service or State Internal Revenue Service, depending on the nature of the transaction) to the Nigeria Postal Service.
He said, “The provisions of Section 163 of the 1999 Constitution require that Stamp Duties on transactions between a company and an individual should be paid to the FIRS and returned to the State of derivation.”
“The forum resolved to engage with the National Assembly on the matter.
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