President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the restoration of OMLs 123, 124, 126, and 137 to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
A statement on Friday by the presidency which was made available to Naija News noted that the move is in line with the current administration’s commitment to the rule of law and fairness.
Buhari also ordered the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to retract the letter of revocation of the leases while the NNPC is to utilize 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 oil blocks to the NNPC is expected to boost crude oil production and in turn increase revenue generation to the federation account.
The statement reads: “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 NNPC Group 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.”
“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 utilize 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 organization’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.”
In another development, troops of the Nigerian Military on Friday prevented Boko Haram fighters from overrunning Gaidam town in Yobe State.
Naija News reports that Gaidam is the hometown of the newly appointed Acting Inspector-General of Police, Baba Alkali as well as the immediate past governor of Yobe State, Senator Ibrahim Gaidam.
It was gathered that troops with assistance from the Nigerian Airforce ( NAF) helicopters, successfully repelled the attack.
A military intelligence source quoted by PR Nigeria said several of the terrorists were killed in the counterattack as the attacking terrorists were forced to flee.