Nigerian authorities on Friday allocated two lucrative oil blocks to companies based in the Niger Delta in a bid to douse tensions in the oil-rich restive southern region.
Two oil firms — Cleanwaters Consortium and Niger Delta United — were allocated operating production licences 289 and 233 respectively during a bidding exercise organised by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
“These companies are being promoted by youth and opinion leaders from the Niger Delta. It is part of government’s initiative and measures to placate the restiveness in the region,” DPR’s director Tony Chukwueke told Agence France-Presse.
“These leaders attended the stakeholders’ meeting [last month] on the problems of the region in Abuja. And they have participated and won the bids because government is committed to address their problems,” he said.
At that meeting, President Olusegun Obasanjo publicly announced a legion of juicy offers, including jobs, roads, health and educational facilities for inhabitants of the impoverished region.
Chukwueke said the lucky firms now have the opportunity to be directly and actively involved in the control of the country’s oil and gas resources, most of which are derived from the Niger Delta.
The region, home to Nigeria’s multi-billion-dollar oil industry, has been the centre of unrest, militant attacks on oil firms and hostage-takings over demands for local control of Nigeria’s vast oil wealth. — AFP