Akwa Ibom Raises Alarm as Federal Verification Exercise Rekindles Oil Wells Dispute with Cross River
Wednesday January 28, 2026
www.thenewsdesk.ng
By Solomon OKPO
Fresh tension is brewing between Akwa Ibom and Cross River states following indications that the Federal Government may be taking steps that could reopen the long-settled dispute over ownership of offshore oil wells, despite a subsisting Supreme Court judgment in favour of Akwa Ibom.
At the heart of the renewed controversy are 76 offshore oil wells whose ownership has strained relations between the two neighbouring states for more than a decade. Akwa Ibom State insists that the oil wells fall squarely within its maritime territory a position unequivocally affirmed by the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment delivered in July 2012.
In that ruling, the apex court held that Cross River State ceased to be a littoral state following the ceding of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon and therefore lacked the maritime boundary required to claim offshore oil wells. The judgment was widely regarded as final, binding and conclusive, effectively settling the matter in favour of Akwa Ibom.
However, recent federal actions have reignited fears in Akwa Ibom that the resolved dispute may be indirectly revisited through administrative processes. Although Cross River State has continued to assert claims to the oil wells since the judgment, the latest concern stems from a federal verification and mapping exercise that critics fear could tilt ownership in its favour.
The Federal Government says the exercise is part of a nationwide effort to resolve lingering boundary and asset ownership disputes in the oil and gas sector. Coordinated by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) at the request of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the initiative aims to verify and plot the coordinates of disputed and newly drilled oil wells across the country.
According to RMAFC, the exercise is designed to establish accurate data for the payment of the constitutionally guaranteed 13 per cent derivation revenue to oil-producing states, particularly in areas where overlapping claims have persisted for years, including Akwa Ibom and Cross River.
RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Bello Shehu, disclosed that an Inter-Agency Technical Committee was constituted in September 2025 to carry out the task. The committee comprises representatives of the National Boundary Commission, the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation and NUPRC, alongside surveyors-general from the affected states.
Shehu said extensive fieldwork was conducted between September 2025 and January 2026 across several oil-producing states and offshore locations, describing the exercise as a constitutional necessity to ensure equity and accuracy in revenue allocation.
Despite assurances from federal authorities that the process is neutral and strictly data-driven, stakeholders in Akwa Ibom have expressed deep reservations.
They argue that any outcome that reallocates offshore oil wells to Cross River would amount to an administrative circumvention of a settled Supreme Court judgment, raising fundamental questions about respect for judicial authority and the balance of federal-state relations in Nigeria’s oil-producing regions.
As the verification exercise nears conclusion, observers warn that its outcome will significantly influence future derivation payments and could either defuse or further inflame tensions between the two states, largely depending on whether it aligns with existing legal pronouncements or appears to contradict them.
