The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has debunked claims that it is relocating its headquarters from Abuja to Lagos as being widely speculated in some sections of the media.
The regulatory commission said it only decided to relocate the operations of some of its technical departments to Lagos to bring its activities closer to oil bearing communities to drive its objective of improving organizational efficiency.
The regulator had in an internal memo dated 14th February-a copy of which was obtained by ARISE NEWS disclosed the move to relocate affected offices to Lagos, pointing out that the initiative is aimed at enhancing service delivery.
The commission added further that the relocation was to reduced operational cost and make adequate use of its assets in Lagos.
The leaked memo has since become a source of serious controversy with many insinuating that the move is “politically motivated”.
In a telephone interview with ARISE NEWS on Thursday, the Chief Executive Officer of NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, said the decision to relocated some of the operational offices to Lagos has nothing to do with any political or ethnic considerations.
He said as a standard operation, NUPRC has offices in oil bearing communities in Port Harcourt in Rivers State, Benin , Edo State , Uyo and Eket in Akwa Ibom State as well as in Akure in Ondo State and Lagos.
Komolafe said contrary to the speculations, the decision was to reduce large overhead costs at a time when the Nigerian economy is faced with challenges.
Komolafe said the NUPRC also reached the decision to ease the problem of office accommodation for staff which had worsened since the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources was merged with NUPRC, lamenting that the lack of office space has cost the agency enormous resources to rent hotels for official meetings.
According to him, the decision to move some of its operational offices to Lagos was to meet with the demand of the workers’ union asking the management to urgently provide space for workers to perform their duties.
He said the situation cannot continue especially when the NUPRC has a large office in Kofo Abayomi in Lagos that is almost empty, cautioning the public not to always read political or ethnic meanings to every decisions taken by the commission.
Omo Bazuaye
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