Yenagoa—The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has thrown its weight behind the decision of the Bayelsa state government to recover the Atala oil marginal field (OML46), which license was reportedly revoked by the Federal Government.
In a statement by its spokesman, Comrade Ebilade Ekerefe, the IYC stressed the need for the oil marginal field to be returned to the state.
According to him, “The revocation may have been triggered due to a purported mishandling of the Atala oilfield between the State and the relevant agency of the Federal Government.”
“There is the need for the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, to consider returning the oil field to the state.”
According to the IYC, the recent show of capacity by the state government to provide an enabling environment for the “Brass Fertilizer company and other existing critical infrastructures,” to thrive is enough evidence to reallocate the oil marginal field to the state.
The statement added that the Bayelsa state government “who is the rightful owner of the Atala Oil Marginal Field (OML 46) should have been granted the right of first refusal before it is revoked and re-awarded.”
The IYC called on the “Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva to assist his State of origin to secure back its prize asset for the peace and development of the State and the region.”
Mangrovepen.ng had reported that Senator Douye Diri, Executive Governor of Bayelsa State Wednesday called on the federal government and its agents to return the Atala oil marginal field to the state.
