Cross River State is awaiting justice and hoping for the recovery of the oil wells ceded to Akwa Ibom State, following a landmark report by the Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC), which affirms the state’s entitlement to the 13% derivation revenue from 119 disputed oil wells.
The committee, established by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), conducted an extensive coordinate verification exercise spanning from 2017 to late 2025.
Its findings recommend that Akwa Ibom State refund the derivation revenues it has accrued from these assets, potentially returning trillions of naira to the Cross River treasury.
The IATC report serves as a pivotal rebuttal to the long-standing narrative that Cross River lost its littoral status after the ceding of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon in 2008.
Governor Bassey Otu emphasized that the state has endured severe economic scars after sacrificing its land and assets for national peace. “We are not even asking for more; we are simply asking for what is rightfully ours,” Otu stated, noting that the empirical evidence gathered by the committee finally validates the state’s geographic and legal claims to the offshore platforms.
To ensure the highest level of accuracy, the committee employed a rigorous methodology that moved beyond existing records to conduct physical coordinate verification.
The IATC observed that data previously provided by regulatory bodies could not be fully relied upon as primary sources, leading them to emphasize empirical data collection.
This data was intended to minimize future disputes by ensuring that the plotting of the 119 crude oil and gas wells was indisputable under maritime and boundary laws.
Despite the optimistic findings for Cross River, RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, clarified in a recent statement that the document currently remains a technical draft.
In line with official protocol, the report has been transmitted to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the National Boundary Commission (NBC), and the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation.
These stakeholders will provide further technical input and review before a final version is produced for the presidency.
The 13-member committee, chaired by Khadija Kumo, included experts from various federal agencies who were tasked with maintaining neutrality throughout the high-stakes verification process.
As the vetting moves toward the final stages involving legal and investment committees, Cross River residents and officials remain hopeful.
For a state that has faced a decade of fiscal constraints, the successful implementation of these recommendations would mark a transformative shift in its developmental trajectory.
