How controversy over oil wells threatens Akwa Ibom, Cross River fraternity

Despite two separate Supreme Court judgements on the ownership of oil wells between Akwa Ibom and Cross River, two states that were once bonded together by a shared history and identity, the controversy has failed to die down.

The Supreme Court in two decisions had awarded the ownership of the 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom State and this has greatly enhanced its revenue profile based on the 13percent derivation principle on oil revenue accruing to Akwa Ibom State.

The latest controversy erupted after the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) decided to raise an interagency committee to determine the coordinates between the two states as they affect oil wells allocated offshore of the two states.

It is not immediately known what informed the decision of RMAFC to set up the committee which is said to comprise experts including surveyor generals of the two states which is believed to have since submitted its report and is awaiting the green light from appropriate authorities for the redistribution of the oil wells.

This has ignited tension and increased media campaign and rivalry between the two states with various press statements and press conferences being addressed by the two states in their bids to sway public opinion on the issue.

For the records, the Cross River State government is not challenging the two decisions of the Supreme Court which had awarded ownership to Akwa Ibom but appears to be relying on new evidence in which it made a 606-page document to RMFAC and it is already celebrating the return of the 76 oil wells or more to them.

Even though RMAFC has denied handing over the oil wells to Cross River State, the controversy has continued in the media space and there appears to be no end in sight.

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According to Mohammed Bello Shehu, chairman of RMAFC, reports claiming that certain “crude oil and gas wells may be ceded to specific states were misleading, premature and does not represent the position or conclusions of the commission.”

It stated that at this stage, there is no finalised recommendation or decision regarding the ceding or reallocation of any oil wells as due institutional processes are still going,” part of the statement read.

Shehu maintained that the commission only “recently received a draft report from the inter-agency committee on 13 February 2026 which has since been sent to relevant technical agencies including the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the National Boundary Commission (NBC) and the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGOF) for detailed review and technical input.

The commission emphasised that only after these processes will a final report be submitted to the President and the Attorney-General of the Federation for action in line with the law after the report might have undergone further scrutiny by the commission’s internal tripartite committees before being presented to the plenary session of the RMAFC.

But Akwa Ibom is crying foul for allegedly being left in the dark about the report processes and how it has been submitted to the relevant agencies without any input from the state.

According to Uko Udom, Akwa Ibom State attorney-general and commissioner for Justice, the understanding was that Akwa Ibom State would be duly informed about all the steps but the reverse appears to be the case.

Addressing a press conference, Udom said, “No inter agency committee, no technical panel and no institutional process can alter, amend, reinterpret or sit in appeal over a judgement of the Supreme Court. Any action inconsistent with a subsisting judgement of the apex court would be unconstitutional, null and void.”

According to him, “Oil wells in question, whether existing or newly referenced, lie within Akwa Ibom State’s recognised maritime and litoral boundaries based on established hydrographic coordinates and legally enforceable boundary adjudications. Their attribution followed due process and relied on empirical geographic data.”

But this explanation by the Akwa Ibom state government seems to have failed to assuage the people with many saying that the state government has not done enough to assert its ownership of the oil wells adding that the state is on verge of losing the oil wells which were secured through the efforts of its past leaders including the former governor Obong Victor Attah who championed the resource control agitation along others.

Akwa Ibom is said to have received N2.53 trillion in 36 months according to a recent investigation by a media outlet. The state government has not denied the figure.

The controversy over the oil wells has continued unabated and has put the two states on edge, it is difficult to imagine what would happen if they were to be reallocated to Cross River State, raising the possibility of the return of youth restiveness and hostilities in the host communities of the oil bearing regions and above all, the loss of the huge revenue that has accrued to the state over the years.