President Muhammadu Buhari has approved Anambra’s new status as a petroleum-bearing state.
The approval is contained in a letter to Governor Willie Obiano which the president’s Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, signed.
The letter is in response to an earlier one by Governor Obiano written on August 24 in which the Anambra State government requested President Buhari to officially declare the state both oil and gas-bearing.
With the declaration, Anambra State is henceforth automatically entitled to 13% of the sale of petroleum resources from 11 oil wells in its territory, namely, Nzam-1, Alo-1, Ameshi-1, 2, and 3, and Enyie-1, 2 , 3 and 4.
The president also upheld the decision of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission that the 13% proceeds from oil and gas resources from Anambra 1, 2 and 3 oil wells be shared equally between Anambra State and the neighbouring Kogi State until the boundary dispute between the two states is settled.
Buhari used the opportunity of the official declaration of Anambra State as petroleum- bearing state to approve the attribution of Okpo-1 oil well to Edo State and the Iji-1 oil well to Delta State and Oda River-1 oil well to Edo State.
The president’s decision has been conveyed to the Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Chief Timepre Sylva; the chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Engineer Elias Mbam; and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, for immediate action.
It has also been conveyed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and his counterparts in Edo and Kogi states, Mr Godwin Obaseki and Alhaji Bello, respectively.
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