Nigeria is divided across many lines on any issue. What appears to unite Nigeria is the attractive indolence that crude oil revenue has imposed on Nigeria. Some call it the “resource curse” without further inclination to ventilate different ways oil curses Nigeria.

Oil is among the negative narratives that some Nigerians use as shield for promoting a skewed patriotism of “our oil” – savouring it, stealing it, and stilling our protests with, stark sneers. Oil bunkering is the sobriquet for this economic sabotage that devastates the environment, drains revenues from the legal economy, and render the oil-producing areas poorer.

At the Northern Leaders’ Conference, 10 years ago, Usman Bugaje, in his presentation raised a controversial issue on the ownership of Nigeria’s crude oil domiciled majorly in the Niger Delta region.

Bugaje, in his presentation, insisted that “there are no oil producing states, the only oil producing State is the Nigerian State.

“The investment came from the Nigerian State and the territory belongs to the Nigerian State. We should stop using these terms that have no sense at all. There are no oil producing States,” he told Channels Television.

Bugaje, PhD, is not one with ordinariness that rules the affections of most Nigerians. He speaks his mind, pressing his points with the benefits of his education, and a conviction that loud voices have the day.

When some call him an Islamic scholar, they strive to limit the expanses of his intellectual depths. His scholarship is not in doubt.

Born in 1951 in Katsina, Bugaje received his B.Sc Pharmacy at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1975. In 1991, he completed a doctorate in Intellectual History of West Africa, with an Islamic slant, in the programme of African Studies at the Institute of African and Asian Studies, University of Khartoum, where he almost earned a Master’s in African Studies. From 1991-95, he served as Secretary General of the Islam in Africa Organisation. He has lectured in university across the world.

Bugaje was Adviser to Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and National Secretary of the Action Congress which transmuted to All Progressives Congress, APC. In 2016 he turned down Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination for an ambassadorial post, saying, “my hands are full”. He was working on the Arewa Research and Development Project which he said was a robust development platform for the North.

A major attribute of Bugaje’s that I admire is his ability to strip any kind of befuddlement from his positions. He brings clarity to issues. His “truth” is bitter, bites, breeds blistering biles. Does he care?

He speaks for the North, a North that easily converts many parts of the South if the issue is mineral resource control. Almost 64 years after Nigeria’s independence, oil and gas are the only minerals when we are discussing the revenue sources of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

What follows is a copious reproduction of an interview Bugaje granted Vanguard, on 1 April 2024, grandly stating his position on ownership of oil, advising us to change the Constitution, if we are not satisfied:

“It is not a controversial statement. Go back to our Constitution, which is the grundnorm. According to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the ownership of natural resources is vested in the Nigerian state itself. The idea that there is an oil-producing State is at variance with our Constitution. It is an idea manufactured by an ignorant mind, a mind that does not even know the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nobody can own the oil, gold, or whatever natural resources that God has given this country, except the Nigerian state designs another process of ownership.

“If that’s been done in Zamfara, then it is against the Constitution. I don’t support what they do there or anywhere. I go by what the Constitution says, and if you don’t like it, you can change the Constitution. You can’t have a Constitution yet do things in the wrong way. So many wrong things are being done, not only in Zamfara but other states, things that are at variance and an affront to our Constitution.

“My point is that there is no oil-producing state. The only oil-producing state is the Nigerian State itself. The idea that there is an oil, gold, or copper-producing state is out of either ignorance or impunity. The real provision is that ownership of everything under the ground within the Nigerian territory is vested in the Federal Republic.

“Derivation is based on the fact that because extraction is being done in a particular State, it comes with the destruction of the environment. Therefore, there is a need to make resources available that would address that destruction to cushion the effects of that particular process. And it is not because it belongs to anybody. It belongs to us all, and there is a formula that recognises environmental destruction in the process of mining or drilling, particularly the spillage and the way it destroys the livelihood of fishermen.

“I did say that the oil belongs to the North. As we know, the Constitution has made it very clear that oil and any other resources belong to the Federal Republic, yet you find some ignorant people talking about their oil. So, I said if we match that argument, we can still claim that the oil also belongs to the North. Because 78% of oil in Nigeria is offshore.

“Due to the crisis and the environmental issues of taking oil from the land, most oil companies have found it more economical and peaceful to go through the sea.

“The United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea says that every state that has a border with water would have an exclusive area, meaning a zone that is exclusive for it to do its own economic and security activities, protecting its land, its territory, and fishing. What is the major factor that gives it (country) mileage into the sea? It is the landmass.

“Whatever we get into the sea is as a result of our landmass as Nigeria. Now, if you divide the landmass in Nigeria, 78% of the landmass of this country belongs to the North. The North has the landmass. What I am saying is that if 78% of that landmass gives you that mileage into the sea where your oil comes from, the 78% of whatever mileage we get into the sea can therefore be claimed because the 78% landmass belongs to the North which is the majority. That is the argument. If they are not satisfied with this ownership, they can go to the National Assembly requesting a change in the Constitution. That way, they can make the resources wherever it is found that of the State.”

There is a ring of “go to court” when Bugaje tells us to get a new Constitution. We know that assumed stronger opponents tell others to “go to court” believing that (in)justice would be by knowledge of the “language” of the court, ability and capacity to speak the “language”, and not by law.

Contrary to what many think, how much freedom the Constitution gives us to make decisions about our lives will determine what happens to revenue management and resource control, there lies the vacuity of Bugaje’s postulations.

A new Constitution without the encumbrances of the current one presents all parts of Nigeria opportunities to creatively improve their lives, environments and meet the needs of their people away from the indolence free oil has erected.

With a new Constitution, we can make great savings that the wasteful bureaucracy of our version of the federal government cascades to the States. The freed resources would be available to be used in managing the growing challenges of Nigeria.

The quest for a new Constitution is more urgent. We should be grateful to Bugaje for providing perspectives that we cannot ignore.

For starters, does anyone know what happens to the gold that is mined in Zamfara, Sokoto, and other places? Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Henry Dele Alake, has said so many things since he assumed office. He has not told what Solid Minerals contribute to the national purse.

Nigeria should be “one nation bound in freedom, peace, and unity”, not a country bound by the weak fabrics of oil, for in making a blinkered oily choice as our bond, we limit our liberty, postpone peace, and dither about our unity.

Finally…

ADIEU, our Onyeka Onwenu, 72, who was interred at the Ikoyi Vaults, Lagos on Friday.

Thanks for the moments. Thanks for the memories. May the Almighty rest you.

•ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues.

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