Nigeria’s acting president, Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday directed the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, “to engage” with International Oil Companies “on the way forward” over repeated calls for the relocation of their head offices to the states where they produce oil from.
Most of the IOCs in Nigeria have their headquarters in Lagos, south west of the country, hundreds of kilometers away from the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
The Niger Delta people have long complained that while oil exploration activities have polluted their environment, the IOCs were paying taxes and other benefits to another state.
Mr. Osibanjo, who was responding to the requests made by various interest groups in Akwa Ibom State during the town hall meeting he had with the people of the state, said the federal government was proposing a new vision for the people of oil producing communities.
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