Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Monday declared that Lagos has officially joined the league of oil-producing states in Nigeria following the discovery of crude oil by Tunde Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited in Badagry, Lagos.
Ambode, who made the declaration when the management of the company led by the Group Managing Director, Mr. Tunde Folawiyo paid him a courtesy visit at the Lagos House, Ikeja, commended the firm for their 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.”
Ambode also said that the feat has not only placed Lagos in the history books as the first state outside the Niger Delta to become an oil-producing State, but has also opened up a new page for revenue generation in the State.
“It also means that by the additional revenue that is coming from this action, we would have more resources to provide infrastructure for Lagosians and this is what we want other investors and businessmen to emulate, so that beyond the issue of profit, you are actually creating impact on people without them necessarily knowing that it is actually coming from a venture like this that you have embarked on,” he said.
He said the resilience of Tunde Folawiyo Petroleum Company, an indigenous firm, has shown the possibilities and opportunities for investors and businessmen willing to commit their resources to boost local production.
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.
Folawiyo also presented Governor Ambode with a sample of the crude oil discovered by his company, a confirmation of Lagos becoming the first basin out of the Niger Delta to become an oil-producing state, which according to him, is by no means a small feat.
