The Akwa Ibom State Government has faulted media reports suggesting that the 76 oil wells legally owned by the state following two Supreme Court judgments may be returned to Cross River State, insisting that nothing has been ceded.
The reports had claimed that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) projected Cross River to be reinstated as an oil-producing state after receiving the final report of the Federal Government’s Inter-Agency Committee on oil-producing states. The committee’s mandate was to determine scientifically the precise location of oil and gas assets within Nigeria’s onshore and offshore boundaries.
Speaking at a press conference in Uyo, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Uko Udom (SAN), accompanied by other commissioners including legal luminary Paul Usoro (SAN), clarified that the Commission only received a draft report on February 13, 2026. He stressed that the document was not a decision, not an approved recommendation, and certainly not a reallocation of oil wells.
Udom explained that the Commission itself had publicly described the circulating claims as speculative and not reflective of any final position. He emphasized that the Supreme Court had already dismissed Cross River’s claim over the estuarine southern territory where all the oil wells are situated.
He recalled that the October 10, 2002 judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the land and maritime boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon fundamentally altered Cross River’s coastal status. The ICJ ruling eliminated Cross River’s estuarine sector, meaning the state no longer possessed a seaward boundary.
Despite Akwa Ibom’s efforts to promote peaceful engagement, Cross River initiated further litigation seeking clarification on offshore entitlements. On July 10, 2012, the Supreme Court again ruled decisively in favour of Akwa Ibom, holding that Cross River was no longer a littoral state entitled to offshore derivation, that its case was legally unsustainable, and that Akwa Ibom’s entitlement to the oil wells was fully recognized.
Udom stressed that no inter-agency committee, technical panel, or institutional process can alter, amend, reinterpret, or sit in appeal over a judgment of the Supreme Court. He warned that any action inconsistent with a subsisting judgment of the apex court would be unconstitutional, null, and void.
The Akwa Ibom government reiterated its position that the ownership of the 76 oil wells remains settled law, and urged the public to disregard speculative reports suggesting otherwise.
By Emeka Samuel, Uyo
