Akwa-ibom to pay Rivers state N10bn for 86 offshore wells

Akwa Ibom State Government is to pay Rivers State Government N10 billion arising from the Supreme Court’s judgment which confirmed the latter as the owner of the disputed 86 oil wells in 2011.

The amount is, however, a far cry from the N300 billion Rivers State Government claimed Akwa Ibom owed her after the judgment was pronounced by the Supreme Court. Governor Godswill Akpabio had equally responded by saying that Akwa Ibom did not owe River State a dime.

But last Saturday, the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Umana Okon Umana, while addressing journalists on the fallout of the recent Supreme Court judgment confirming Akwa Ibom as the bonafide owner  of the 76 oil wells hitherto claimed by Cross River State, said the state was making efforts to abide by the 2011 Supreme Court judgment by paying Rivers State N10 billion.

Umana, who was in company with the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ekpenyong Ntekim as well as the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Aniekan Umanah, lamented that while Akwa Ibom was making efforts to obey the court judgment with regard to  Akwa Ibom/Rivers ownership of the disputed oil wells, Cross River State and her agents were on the other hand trying to disparage the Supreme Court by embarking on campaign of calumny.
Culled from Sunnewsonline