Ex-militants from the Niger Delta region have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to redistribute the oil wells among the 36 states of the federation and resist the temptation of renewing the expired licences of all oil firms and other highly-placed individuals operating in the area.
The ex-militants under the aegis of “Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators,” in a letter to the President, believed that the sharing of the oil blocks among the states was the only panacea to enduring peace in the region.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, the Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Kanti Baru, the Director General, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, the Managing Director, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the National Chairman, Nigeria Ethnic Nationality Youth Movement, (NENYM) were copied in the letter in which the major oil companies in the region were accuacc of fuelling the crisis in the Niger Delta.
The letter added that the process and procedure for bidding of oil blocks should henceforth be thrown open to the general public and it was signed by General John Duku, Convener of the Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators, General Ekpo Ekpo for Niger Delta Volunteers, General Osarolor Nedam for Niger Delta Warriors among others,
The letter read in parts:
“The general assembly of the coalition resolved as follows the president and commander in chief of the armed forces, should reject all application for renewal of Oil Prospecting Licences, OPL, Oil Mining Licences, OML, from the companies affected as listed below and many other ones that also seek renewal.
We therefore, demand that OPL and OML of all the companies mentioned above and others yet to mention be withdrawn and the renewing processes/procedures should be stopped with immediate effect for the interest of peace in the Niger Delta and Nigerian at large.
The oil blocks should rather be re-distributed among the 36 states of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and other Nigerians”