Anambra And Oil Derivation Earnings

Today, Anambra State is earning close to N300 million monthly from oil derivation with the likelihood of the amount going higher and higher as production level increases and it reflects on good representation. In 2016 I was appointed Special Assistant by former Gov. Willie Obiano. And I took it upon myself to find out details about the oil exploration going on deep inside Ogbaru, which started since 2013. I undertook in March, 2016 to go into the mangrove swamp forest on what could best be described as dangerous expedition.

I was advised not to go because no body goes there. But I insisted that I must risk it. I took off with eleven (11) motorbikes from where our vehicles could manage to get to at Otuakanta. We were twenty-one (21) in number. Of the eleven (11) motorbikes with which I advanced into the mangrove forest only five (5) made it to the oilfield because of the thorny and soggy nature of the pathway, at some point we would have to drag the motorbikes by hand. When we eventually got to the oilfield after about three (3) hours in the forest, I saw about 35 caravans; saw where the oil company built helipad, where they land their helicopters. I saw drilling machines, I saw their rig, I saw pipes lined up towards Oguta and I saw military men providing security there and it was a very busy place covering about five (5) football fields put together with foreign expatriates and other staff fully at work.

You could hardly believe that such big deal was going on deep inside Ogbaru. Of course, the oil company never acknowledged that they were operating on Anambra soil. They delineated the two Ogbaru communities involved into two, they carved Ogwu-Aniocha into Imo state and put Ogwu-Ikpele in Delta state. They said to me that I was the first person coming from Anambra state government to lay claims. I made a strong argument as to Anambra state being the owner of where they were operating as the land belong to Umunzarabia kindred of Ogwu-Aniocha and Ogwu-Aniocha is in Ogbaru local government area and Ogbaru local government area is in Anambra state. I made my case and I left with my team armed with the details of my findings. It is important to note that this effort started two years before I became Ogbaru local government Chairman, my becoming the Council Chairman two years later merely complimented the already set in motion effort.

I reported to the then governor, Dr. Willie Obiano, all my findings and made strong case for full government attention as that was the quickest way of Anambra State joining the list of oil producing states since the oil company was already mining oil in the area with OML143 as against what Orient Petroleum was doing with OPL in Aguleri-Otu. I met severally with late Dr. Emma Egbogah on the issue and we began to escalate the matter to all authorities. All manner of enticements were made to me in order to halt the push but it was clear to me that getting Anambra State on the sheet of oil producing states would fetch us as Ogbaru people and Anambra State more benefits than the droplets the oil company was putting forward. Achieving oil bearing status comes 13% derivation; comes NDDC in Ogbaru and Anambra. NDDC will build roads for our people, build schools, build hospitals, build jetties along our waterways, build and remodel our local markets; scholarships will be made available to our school children and bursaries will return to our schools. The oil company will carry out CSR in our communities, there will be electricity, pipe born water, there will be comfort and improved living conditions for our people; I mean, the benefits far outweigh any settlement for me.

So for six (6) years we resisted their monetary inducement, insisting on regularising their oil operations in our land. We took risk, we endured pains, we showed courage, we showed resilience, we demonstrated integrity, we proved true and unfettered representation. Our strong disdain for bribery and compromises have finally paid off and today Anambra state is the winner with eight (8) producing oil wells from Ogbaru in the kitty pumping out no fewer than 500 barrels of crude oil everyday which was hitherto credited to Imo and Delta states.

Credit must also go to former Gov. Willie Obiano for his strong commitment to realising the Ogbaru-leg of the project and also the late traditional ruler of Ogwu-Aniocha, HRH, Igwe Oliver Chike Nnaji. Igwe Oliver Chike Nnaji was murdered in the process and his body yet to be seen till date, he was a man of integrity an unassailable character. I make bold to say that Igwe Oliver Chike Nnaji is the hero of the oil status we are beginning to enjoy today, for he laid his life for it and he deserves to be remembered and the young family he left behind.

As of today, there are more than 114 oil wells in Ogbaru Local Government area. A total of 93 capped well heads as discovered by a Chinese Oil and Gas Company, the China Petroleum & Chemical Company referred to as SINOPEC, who in 2010 crossed the River Niger into Ogwu-Aniocha and Ogwu-Ikpele from Okpai in Ndokwa East local government area of Delta State for oil exploration in Ogbaru. Of the 93 oil wells, twenty-five (25) are within Umunzalabia Kindred’s land and twenty (27) are located within Umuezeosai Kindred’s land, while the rest forty-one (41) are located at Ofia-Ogwu (Okporodum, Utu-ala, Ogbundam, Odidi lake etc). Ogbaru no doubt has become a beautiful bride and soon, will be visited with infrastructural developments commensurate with her contribution to the national economy.

For me, true representation is all about the people and any representation that is not geared towards the ultimate good of the people should not exist.

*Hon. Arinzechukwu Awogu*
APGA candidate for House of Representatives, Ogbaru Federal Constituency 2023.