RMAFC moves to properly reallocate disputed oil wells, promises to be fair

From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has stepped into disputes among oil-producing states and communities with a view to appropriately reallocating disputed oil wells to their rightful owners.

The affected states are Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Rivers, and Delta.

Following disputes among the states and oil communities, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) wrote to RMAFC to verify the claims being made by the states.

On the strength of the powers vested in RMAFC by the constitution, the commission moved into the fray to plot and appropriately reallocate the oil wells.

Speaking at the flag-off of the plotting of coordinates of disputed and newly drilled oil and gas wells in the affected oil-producing states in Abuja, Chairman of RMAFC, Dr Mohammed Shehu, inaugurated a technical committee comprising inter-agency technical representatives, including NUPRC, the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, the National Boundary Commission, and RMAFC.

“The disputing oil-producing states are Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Rivers, offshore and Delta.

“You know, it’s constitutional that 13 per cent derivatives be given to states where minerals are produced, especially crude oil and gas.

“So it’s in this respect that NUPRC wrote to the commission so that we can verify the coordinates of those new oil wells and those disputed ones.

“And a couple of months after, I think September or October, we now went to the field.

“So it’s those reports that they brought to us. Now, the plotting of the coordinates will start. So, there had been traditional disputes between states in terms of who owns what.

“You know, whenever new oil fields start producing, after a while, they will want to know which state actually owns that, or which state should get the 13 per cent rebates.

“So it’s in this line that we are doing this exercise. And we intend to do it fairly, justly and equitably, without any bias.

“We have all the data. We have an equipment that we believe no one in Nigeria has — not even NUPRC.

“We hired our drones in places where we cannot actually physically be.

“And we have sent the drones. They have taken the co-ordinates. And we are going to analyse them in the presence of all the states that are present.

“The states have all been diligent. They have been there. They have witnessed. Whatever co-ordinates we take, we give to them.

“They are here. So, they have witnessed. We don’t have any problem with the states. We hope that at the end of this exercise, some of those disputes will go down,” he said.