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Anambra Governor, Obiano
BY SUNNY A. DAVID
Anambra State has finally joined the league of Oil Producing States in Nigeria.
As a consequence, the State will now start to benefit from the 13 % Derivation fund.
This is sequel to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation And Fiscal Commission’s approval of Governor Willie Obiano’s request for due share of revenue accruing to the nation from oil and gas production activities in Anambra State.
According to the approval letter through its secretary, Mr. M.B. Shehu, and addressed to Governor Obiano, the Commission, approved the attribution of 11 oil wells wholly to Anambra State.
It also approved attribution of Anambra River One, Two, and Three oil wells, to be shared on fifty- fifty percent basis between Anambra and Kogi States, pending the final delineation of boundaries of the two States.
The 11 oil wells wholly attributed to Anambra State, are; Nzam-One oil well, Alo- One oil well, and Ogbu- One oil well. Others are Ameshi One, Two, Three and Four oil wells, as well as Enyie One, Two, Three, and Four oil wells.
Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission’s approval was at its 139th plenary session, held on twenty seventh July, 2021.
It said the 13 percent derivation will take effect when the said revenue from the operations of the said oil wells starts contributing into the federation account.
It would be recalled that, for instance, the Chairman of the Anambra State Oil and Gas Committee, Engineer Frank Edozie, and Chairman of the our Technical Committee, Professor Chares Ofoegbu, as well as Professor Solo Chukwubelu who is the Secretary to the State Government and such persons as Arinze Awogu, Chairman of the Ogbaru Local Government Transition Committee and Mrs. Patricia Igwebuike, the Special Adviser on Legal Matters and Petroleum Resources, have not for once rested on their laurels.”
The next year, Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company, an Indian hydrocarbon firm, secretly moved to the neighbouring communities of Ogwuaniocha and Ogwuikpele in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, and started to produce oil. The Anambra State government was not aware of this enterprise until 2019 and quickly moved into action when it received a report about the oil drilling, investigated it and found it true.
For some reason, the oil produced in Ogbaru LGA was attributed to Delta State, and not Anambra State. Worse, there was no environmental and social impact assessment by either the Anambra State government or the Federal Government, resulting in enormous environmental degradation. Efforts by the state government to engage Sterling Oil Exploration and Energy Production Company (SEEPCO) did not yield tangible results.
Obiano was left with no choice than to escalate the matter to the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal Ministry of Justice. He then turned attention to the Federal Ministry of the Environment, with which it last November organized a conference at Golden Tulip Hotel, Agulu Lake in Anambra State, on the profound environmental implications of SEEPCO activities. All stakeholders criticized the energy firm.
With incontrovertible evidence showing that the oil wells in question belong to Anambra State, coupled with Obiano’s persistent letters and visits to relevant government agencies in Abuja, the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission had no choice than to write a letter to Governor Obiano on August 24 confirming that the governor is right about the ownership of the oil wells.
