Cross Rivers to be Re-Configured as Oil Producing State

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The Federal Government has assured the government and people of Cross River State of its plan to reconfigure the state as an oil-producing state.

The state had in 2008 lost its oil-producing status due to the handing over of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, stated this during a visit to Governor Ben Ayade in Government House Calabar on Monday.

Kachikwu, who came with his management team, said the Federal Government has not been fair to Cross River State.

He promised not only to bring the state back as an oil-producing state but create more opportunities for the people of Cross River in the oil sector.

Responding, an elated Governor Ayade, while commending the Minister for his reassuring words, urged him to quickly present the matter at the Federal Executive Council for ratification, due to the poor state of the state finance.

Cross River was removed from oil-producing states in the Niger Delta region and 13 per cent oil derivation revenue, following a Supreme Court judgment that ceded the remaining 76 oil wells to the neighbouring Akwa Ibom State, thereby reducing the state’s revenue since 2009.