The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said that Anambra, Enugu and Kogi States are not yet ripe to enjoy the status of oil producing states.
DPR, in a letter to the Senator Tayo Alasoadura-led senate committee on petroleum (upstream), stated that the three states could only be declared oil-bearing states, if the oil firm in the area, Orient Oil, scaled up its operations from oil prospecting to oil mining lease (OML).
For not meeting the requirement, DPR maintained that the three states do deserve the status of oil-producing states.
But the chairman of the committee, Alasoadura, said the issue at stake deals with a referral to the committee on the contentious boundary between Anambra, Kogi and Enugu.
Nevertheless, Alasoadura stressed that a report that the federal government had accorded Anambra State oil producing status threw up the matter to the front burner.
He said the committee lacked the power to declare a state oil producing.
However, he said the committee believed that the National Boundary Commission (NBC) can settle the matter.
Furthermore, said the committee wrote to the DPR “but their response was not quite satisfactory” adding “that is why we want to hear from your commission.”
When the committee met with the NBC, Alasoadura said the committee decided to hear from it “when we had a similar issue in Ondo State in the past, it was your commission that resolved it.”
In his contribution, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu North) noted that the issue of OPL 915 and 916 dated back to antiquity.
“I didn’t know that this motion would come up, because we had already resolved the issue when Senator Isaac Mohammed Alfa was away.
“Kogi and Enugu State do not have problem; the two are in agreement, but Enugu and Anambra are not in agreement.
“We in Enugu want to be declared as oil -producing state too. Let that be done pending when the boundary commission finishes its work,” he said.
He added that Orient Oil within seven years moved from 3,000 to 10,000 barrels a day.
“An oil company that had been able to move from 3,000 to 10,000 barrels per day should have graduated from oil prospecting to oil mining lease,” he added.
However, he said the state would take up the matter with DPR to find out why Orient Oil refused to move from oil prospecting to oil mining lease.”
“Anambra State has serious stake in Orient Oil, so it would be difficult. If we have another company that Anambra doesn’t have interest in that will be better.
“People are suspicious of the company. The governors in the three states should use political solution to resolve the issue,” he said.
He said that they would go to the DPR to find out why Orient Oil refused to move from oil prospecting to oil mining lease.”
For his part, Alfa (Kogi East) explained that there was no contention on the need to recognise the affected communities as oil producing communities.
“If Orient Petroleum didn’t meet the requirements, who gave them the license to operate? The government should ask itself questions. This issue should be put squarely to DPR,” he said.
Addressing the committee, the acting director general of the NBC, Mr. Adamu Adaji, described the issue “is a tripartite one involving the three states.”
He noted that the commission had been on the issue for some time.
“We carried out preliminary field work on Kogi-Anambra boundary, but the challenge we have is the document we are using, which was produced before independence.
“We had to use a provincial boundary map produced by the colonial masters. We discovered that the descriptions on the map are not too clear.
“We scaled out seven points, and about five of them were discovered, but the remaining two resisted.
“Some youths from Ibaji community accosted our staff at some point that they will not agree with the legal document we were using. We are relying on Legal Instrument of 1954.
“The work was stalled because the people of Ibaji were of the view that we must identify the points between Anambra, Kogi and Enugu before we could do anything.
“When we made an attempt in 2015, our effort was aborted. We met with the then governor of Kogi State and he promised to talk to the community to cooperate with us.
“What we want now is to get the states to cooperate so that we can work.
“The three states were not quite forthcoming for us to do the job. That is what we have been trying to do now.
“If we cannot rely on the map, we plead that the states should cooperate for us to come to a boundary that is acceptable to all,” he said.
Also contributing, Senator Magnus Abe (Rivers) said the NBC was already doing something on the issues stressing that “except there is the right atmosphere for them to work, nothing can be done.”
He said the only way the issue could be resolved is for the committee to invite the states to come and “we set up a joint team with the boundary commission so that we can have adequate security before they can go and do their job.”
He enjoined the three states to be prepared to accept the realities on the ground.
“Now that there is oil there, the next thing you may have is that the people will begin acquiring guns and start shooting themselves.”
For his part, Senator Gershom Bassey (Cross River State) said that the NBC cannot completely be exonerated from the blame.
“There have been communal clashes because the commission has not done its job.
“It appears to me that the commission has been doing one job for 10 years. You can’t convince me on that.
“The commission has to be held responsible for what is happening. You must do your job no matter what,” he added.
Senator Philip Gyunka (Nasarawa State), in his contribution noted that it seemed the commission was treading cautiously so as not to hurt any party.
“I want to advise here that whatever you think can solve the problem, please try and do it,” he said.
