Akwa Ibom State Denies Reports of Oil Well Transfer to Cross River
The Akwa Ibom State Government has firmly denied media speculation that 76 oil wells legally owned by the state may be transferred to Cross River State. The denial follows a draft report from a Federal Government committee that included Cross River on a list of oil-producing states.
In a press conference in Uyo on Monday, the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Uko Udom, SAN, clarified the legal and procedural status of the matter. He emphasized that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has already settled the ownership dispute in two separate judgments, from 2002 and 2012, which affirmed that the contentious oil wells in the estuarine southern territory belong to Akwa Ibom.
The media reports emerged after the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) received a draft final report from the Federal Government’s Inter-Agency Committee on the Enlistment of Oil Producing States on February 13, 2026. According to Mr. Udom, the document is merely a draft, not a decision, approved recommendation, or a reallocation of assets. He stressed that no committee, panel, or commission possesses the authority to override, reinterpret, or appeal a final judgment of the Supreme Court.
“The Commission has described the circulating claims as speculative and not reflective of any final position,” Mr. Udom stated, quoting the RMAFC’s own clarification.
He argued that any action contrary to the apex court’s subsisting judgments would be unconstitutional, null, and void. The Attorney General underlined that the Supreme Court had previously dismissed Cross River State’s claim over the specific southern estuarine zone where all 76 oil wells are located.
The dispute highlights the high-stakes nature of oil revenue allocation in Nigeria, where state ownership directly impacts financial receipts from the Federation Account. While the RMAFC’s draft recommendations are part of a technical process to review which states qualify as oil producers, Akwa Ibom insists the foundational legal principle is non-negotiable. The state’s position is that the Supreme Court’s pronouncements on the matter are definitive and must be respected by all federal institutions.
For now, the 76 oil wells remain under Akwa Ibom’s legal ownership. The next step will be the finalisation and formal submission of the Inter-Agency Committee’s report, followed by any subsequent actions from the RMAFC, all of which must operate within the constitutional boundary set by the Supreme Court’s existing judgments.
