Lagos officially joins oil producing states

Lagos StateGovernor, Akinwunmi Ambode

Hopes for improved revenue soared yesterday for Lagos State, as the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode officially declared the state an oil producing state.

Ambode who declared this while receiving Group Managing Director, Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited, Mr. Tunde Folawiyo at the Lagos House, Ikeja, commended the firm for its doggedness to achieve the feat after 25 years of hard work, saying that by the provision of Section 162 Sub-Section 2 of the Nigeria Constitution, Lagos has become an oil producing State.

He declared, “I want to thank you very much for this and I say it with all conviction because I know that based on section 162 Sub-Section 2 of the Nigeria Constitution, Lagos becomes an oil producing state and by virtue of this, the 13 percent derivation that is due to oil producing states, Lagos will start to partake from it by your very good gesture. So we  officially declare Lagos State as an oil producing state, we also notify the Federal Government by this action that we would be sharing out of the 13 percent derivation. So all we need do is to apply and then we join” the governor said.

Earlier, Mr. Folawiyo said that the discovery of crude oil in Lagos, which has taken over 25 years to achieve, has gone a long way to show the possibilities achievable if government continues to lend support to indigenous investors and companies.

“At so many points along the way, we could have given up because it was a very rough road, but the point is that only a Nigerian company would have continued to do what we did. The man crux is that we need government and government needs us and where government supports assiduously, it can only be success,” he said.

Asked how much has gone into the investment, Folawiyo said the company has committed about $400million dollars to achieve the feat.

He said the current status of the oil well has the capacity to produce at least 12,000 barrels per day, with a possibility to increase to 25,000 to 50,000 barrels per day in the nearest future.

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