An oil rich location whose potentials are yet to be fully tapped is generating tension between the three neighbouring states – Anambra, Enugu and Kogi – where the oil is located. Weekly Trust visited the area and reports.
It is quite difficult to imagine that the area could be inhabited by human at this age of advancement, but a lonely footpath through the thickly forest indicates the contrary. The existence of large rice beds around the swampy surroundings and banana plantations are also evidence of human activities. In between are human settlements from Odeke community in Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State toward its border with Enugu State.
In this seemingly middle of nowhere, as one approaches Ofe-Odogba to the west, an imposing mast welcomes you. As you advance closer, there are pipes layouts that disappear into the bushes from the area which is demarcated by barbwires. Within this enclose are different gadgets used to prospect crude oil.

The point is referred to as Location One or Anambra River One well by different oil companies, which are at one point or the other involved in the activities including the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Elf Nigeria and Orient Petroleum Resources Plc which is currently at the exploration site. The facility is being manned by fierce looking security guards of Igbo origins who also are well armed. They would not allow picture of the facility to be taken and nor to talk to the press.

Few kilometers southward, at a point in Ogene-Odogba, an Ibaji community is Location Two or Anambra River Two Well. Location 4 of the wells on the other hand, is situated at Omabo also an Ibaji community, a distance of about 80 kilometers from Idah, the ancestral headquarters of Igala nation.

Weekly Trust observed that the area where crude oil is prospected for and exploited is about 150 square metres. The entire area is covered with asphalt overlay, while the particular spot where the drilling took place is about 20 square metres and is marked with concrete pavement. The oil well is located in this pavement by a four-square metre concrete opening and sealed with a cast iron lid about two metres below the surface. About 10 metres southward from the well opening are some huge pipe layouts which shot out and ended at a distance. Of all the wells discovered in the area, that of Echeno, another community in Ibaji on the border with Anambra State, is said to be the largest.

After a community meeting that lasted for about 30 minutes, Anejodo Sunday, the representative of the Duga Onu Echeno, His Royal Highness, Rev. Joshua Agbata, Anazodo told Weekly Trust that “two companies, Synopic Oil and Orient Oil came to the community late last year with the news that they found oil in our land and we gave them the go ahead to carry on with their activities.

“When they came, we received them with utmost joy and gave them a building which they use as office and accommodation, but during the period of their activities our source of drinking water was no longer good as they were plying the river with flying boats thereby making it unsafe for drinking, but we endured since it is for the good of us all,” he said.

Documents obtained by Weekly Trust show that several wells were discovered in an area referred to as Anambra Basin, which includes the expanse of land accommodating the present Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State. The place has a river as it is boundary with part of Anambra North-West and Enugu State.

Four of the wells, according to Orient Petroleum, are said to be currently at exploration stage, one each from Anambra and Enugu States, while the remaining two are situated on Ibaji land in Kogi State.

Weekly Trust learnt that in preparation for the exploration activities, a 55,000-barrel per day refinery is being built by Orient, at Otuocha in Anambra State. Orient, Weekly Trust learnt, has since obtained licence for blocks it referred to as OPLs 915 and 916, which it said include a “small portion of Kogi State,” in a letter to the former governor of the state Alhaji Ibrahim Idris dated August 8, 2011. The company had in the letter intimated the state of its intention to commence the production testing of already drilled wells and acquisition of about 640 square kilometers of high resolution 3D seismic data in its oil blocks within the period. It, therefore, urged the government to “kindly inform the local government authorities and the communities at the border of Anambra and Kogi States that as stakeholders, they are expected to establish and maintain a warm and cordial relationship with the seismic survey contractor throughout the survey.”

The company also requested for large expanse of land from the state government where it will establish a depot that will serve the northern part of the country.

However, Weekly Trust learnt that the seismic survey contractor, Sinopec Limited, employed by Orient for the job had commenced work in the areas since June 2011. Representatives of the affected communities told Weekly Trust that survey/line cutting, shot holes preparations (drilling), seismic data recording (shooting) and laying of pipes by their length and width which occupy sizeable portions of affected communities’ farmlands and ancestral worship places had since begun.”

The communities statement were reinforced by the Chairman, Board of Directors, Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, and former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku who disclosed while inspecting the company’s facilities at Aguleri Otu in Anambra West Local Government Area, in August 2011 that work on the project had since commenced, while promising that “Anambra would join the league of oil producing states within three months.”

The company, Weekly Trust learnt, has since hit oil in commercial quantity in the area.

Before the current activities, different oil companies like Elf, Shell, Agip had carried out exploratory work at different locations in Igalamela, Ibaji and Olamaboro Local Government Areas of Kogi State since in the 70s. Most of the sites were plugged and abandoned.

However, investigation reveals that the NNPC/NPDC carried out seismic activities in Anambra Basin between 1976 and 1983, and about 4,500km of 2D seismic were acquired. Between 1952 and 1986, three companies – SHELL BP, Elf and AGIP drilled 25 exploration wells, two appraisal wells and eight core-drill wells in the entire basin. At the end of the exercise, oil and gas were discovered in Anambra River-1 well, while gas and condensate were found in Anambra River-2 well, which fall within Kogi State. The NPPC’s efforts at the time produced gas and condensate in Alo-1 well, Igbariam-1well, Ihandiagu-1well, Amansiodo-1well among others. Okpo-1well was abandoned due to technical reason, while Okpe-1 well, Nzam-1 well and Akukwa-1 well recorded some gas shows. It was suggested then that the federal government should carryout comprehensive exploration in the Inland Basins at the earliest possible time so that strategic reserves could be added from hinterland, apart from the Niger Delta reserves.

On July 18, 2001, the then governor of Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu wrote to the Group Managing Director of NNPC intimating him of the discovery of mineral substance suspected to be crude oil at Odeke and Echenyo in Ibaji Local Government Area of the state.

“The discovery of this substance has generated widespread public interest and anxiety in Kogi State and I wish to request your organisation to carry out a thorough investigation of the substance to determine its nature and extent of deposit,” the letter reads in part. The NNPC promptly sent its men to the affected sites for “a very preliminary investigation of the claims.” The efforts also confirmed the existence of crude oil in the area.

So the mood in Kogi State is that there is crude oil in commercial quantity across Ibaji Local Government Area and other parts of the state where exploration activities suggest its existence. In fact, the NNPC’s earlier report confirmed that some “exploratory work has been done in the Anambra Basin with reports of oil show…Our programme in Anambra Basin therefore, are well founded, and we are very optimistic about the petroleum potential of this basin.”

However, the impending crisis over the ownership of the oil wells among Kogi, Enugu and Anambra States may generate concern. The anxiety and fear occasioned by alleged attempt by communities in the two Igbo speaking states to annex the areas prospected for oil in Kogi State is felt the moment one enters Ibaji land. Skeptical youths in apparently angry mood surrounded these reporters at Odogu, a junction community within the pathways to Onyedega, the council headquarters and Unale, Enwele, Aike to Odeke in Kogi State. The youths ease backward as they notice an Igala tribal marks on the cheeks of our one our reporters. Suspicious glances however trailed our reporters as they made way through the various communities to Odeke and Echeno, the two border communities between Kogi, Enugu and Anambra States, where oil wells are located.

The fear and anxiety are further heightened by the fact that almost all the directors of Orient Petroleum, the prospecting firms are Igbo from Anambra State. The Chairman, Board of Directors, Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, Chief Anyaoku, its managing director, former vice president, Dr Alex Ekwueme and others are seen as capable of influencing government decision to their advantage.

Already, some of the locations of the wells where the company has commenced work on or is proposing to do so are in contention. In a letter to the Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Yomi Awoniyi, who is also the chairman of the state boundary committee, the committee on oil activities in Ibaji land accused Orient of trying to re-draw the boundary between the affected states by alleging that two of the oil wells are in Anambra and Enugu states. “On our visit to these oil wells, it was discovered that Location one (1) that was regarded as Anambra River one (1) and purported to be in Anambra state is traditionally owned by Odeke community in Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi State. It should also be noted that Anambra River (which is known as Imabolo River in Iglala land) takes its course from Ankpa in Kogi State and run through Igala land before running into River Niger at Onono, the committee said in a letter signed by its chairman, Daniel Omotola.

The committee also contended that Location One which Anambra State is claiming falls within Odeke axis, stressing that Odeke does not share boundary with Anambra State, but with Enugu at a distance.

“The only community having boundary with Anambra State therefore is Echeno community in the eastern part of Ibaji Local Government Area and specifically at Ezeagulu Otu. For this reason, there is no way Anambra State can jump over Enugu State to own a location one (1).

It said out of the existing four wells, three are within Kogi State and urged the state government to expedite action in ensuring that its territory is not tempered with, by obtaining the final report on the boundary between the state, Anambra and Enugu, which it said is ready at the National Boundary Commission, Abuja.

Crisis is also brewing at the Igbo end of the divide following claim by Orient team of joining the league of oil producing states in the country. The people of Uzo-Uwani, particularly the Igga leaders in Enugu State literally fired missiles of counter claim at their sister state, Anambra. The land where the oil was struck by Orient Petroleum belongs to Igga in Enugu, not Anambra, the Igga leaders from Uzo-Uwani warned, in a statement issued in Enugu and made available to Weekly Trust.

The leaders bemoaned the fact that the mutually beneficial age-long arrangement they made with Aguleri people about settlement in the area, had unfortunately emboldened the Aguleri people to begin to lay claims to ownership of the land, particularly with the discovery of a large deposit of crude oil by the Orient Petroleum.

In the statement issued by Igga community and signed by Chairman, Igga Progressive Union, Enugu Branch, Chief Ray Okalia and Assistant Secretary, Engr. Emmanuel Ifeanasi, the community said, “the oil wells from which Orient Petroleum Resources Plc is expected to soon commence production of crude oil are located on Igga community land and not Aguleri Otu as reported in the dailies.”

Igga community also said “incontrovertible evidence abound to prove that the area in reference actually belongs to Igga community of Enugu State,” and therefore enjoined the company “to concentrate efforts on its core business and refrain from the politics of who becomes an oil producing state until it discovers oil in Anambra State.”

According to the statement, “both Aguleri and Igga communities have lived in harmony with the Aguleri people serving as caretakers of the many natural fishing ponds and streams by Igga community in the area because while the Aguleris were mainly fishermen, the Igga people were crop farmers.”

The community further said, “it would be against natural justice and equity for Anambra to be accorded the status of oil producing state at the expense of the Igga community of Enugu State, which will lose assets, suffer environmental degradation, and experience economic, social and physical dislocations.”

The community further cited “Anambra Forest Reserve (Amendment) Order, 1955” contained in the Annual Volume of the Laws of Eastern Region of Nigeria pages B243 – B246 and the fact that the said oil wells are located on Igga community natural fishing ponds: Iyi-Ebu, Ududu, Ari-oko, Iyiachanu, Nwankita and Aji-Ogbe, among others” as proof that the oil wells are on Igga land and not Aguleri.

However, leaders of the community, appealed to the Enugu State Government to take up the matter with Anambra and Federal Governments immediately to ensure equity and fair play.

Also, they advised the Enugu State Government to follow up on the recent boundary demarcation conducted by the National Boundary Commission in conjunction with the boundary committees of Anambra, Enugu and Kogi States which determined their tripartite point.

As it stands, the story of oil find in Anambra Basin which Kogi is among, seems to be a reality; what is contentious is the ownership of some of wells which only the National Boundary Commission could determined.

http://weeklytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9573:kogi-anambra-enugu-bicker-over-oil-wells&catid=40:cover-stories&Itemid=26