Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restoration of the leases on four Oil Mining Licences to the state-owned petroleum company, (the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation – NNPC).
The affected oil licences are OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137.
President Buhari said his actions were in line with his administration’s commitment to the rule of law, fairness and enabling a stable business climate for investment.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian leader’s move reverses the actions of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which had on March 30, 2021, revoked the licences belonging to the federation.
Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu who had revealed President Buhari’s stance in a series of tweet on Friday noted that the DPR had been ordered to retract the letter of revocation of the leases.
“In line with the current administration’s commitment to the rule of law, fairness and enabling a stable business climate for investment, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restoration of the leases on OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137 to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, which is in production sharing contract with Addax Petroleum, a company wholly owned by Government of the People’s Republic of China on the blocks. The leases belonging to the Federation were revoked on March 30, 2021,” Mr Shehu said in the tweet.
“This development reaffirms the commitment of President Buhari to the rule of law and sanctity of contracts.
“While directing the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR to retract the letter of revocation of the leases, the President also directed NNPC to utilise contractual provisions to resolve issues in line with the extant provisions of the Production Sharing Contract arrangement between NNPC and Addax.
“The restoration of the blocks to NNPC will boost the organisation’s portfolio, thereby making the Corporation to, in the long run, boost its crude oil production and in turn increase the revenue it generates to the Federation Account.”
By Abel Ejikeme