Bayelsa State government on Sunday said it had set up a special committee of legal experts to ensure that the oil firms are compelled to site their operational offices in Yenagoa, the State capital.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Bayelsa State, Mr. Kemasuode Wodu, read the Riot Act, during an interview with journalists in Abuja.
He noted that the State has contributed immensely to the development of the Country by virtue of the mineral resources tapped from the State by the companies based on licenses granted by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The State has very large deposits of crude oil and natural gas, amongst others. However, the commissioner regretted that none of these multinational oil companies has operational offices in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
According to him, they rather have their operational offices in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri and in other States of the Country. It is from these locations that their operations are coordinated and managed.
The service companies he said, in turn also have big operational offices in these locations with several thousands of employees and residential and office premises.
Mr. Wodu stated further, “The hospitality industry and financial services sector, amongst others, are major beneficiaries of the presence of the operational offices of these oil companies. There is multiple expansion of the economy of the place where these operational offices are located. Employee income taxes are paid to the State where the offices are located.
“Taxes are paid for the land and other properties of such Companies. Employees of those Companies in their thousands would rent houses, some would buy land and build houses and estates, they would patronize the markets and supermarkets and generally spend a lot of their resources in the State of location of these operational offices thereby boosting the economy of the place.
“It is my view, with the greatest respect, that the foregoing situation legally amounts to discrimination against the people of Bayelsa State, contrary to the provisions of Section 42(1) of the Constitution. The African Charter on Human and Peoples Right also prohibit discrimination of people.
“The plight of the people of Bayelsa State has been aggravated by the fact that it is the State and its people that bear the brunt of the oil and gas operations in the Country due to the consistent degradation of the environment by incessant crude oil spillages across the State. Our environment is in a grave state of devastation and despoliation.
“The Companies do not carry out appropriate remediation of the degraded environment and neither is adequate compensation paid for the damage occasioned by the frequent spillages.
“We must mention that the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources is vested with the relevant statutory power to take steps to remedy this situation.
“Section 2 of the Petroleum Act vests in the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, the power to grant relevant licences to the oil companies to carry out crude oil and gas exploitation. Section 9 of the Petroleum Act also gives the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources the power to make regulations in guiding the operations of the oil companies.
“The Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources can therefore by regulations made pursuant to the Petroleum Act, direct that the said Oil Companies should establish their operational offices in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State where very substantial part of their crude oil and gas operations take place. “We therefore respectfully call on the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources to so act in order to aid the economic and infrastructural development of the State.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that when this is done, the internally generated revenue of the State will dramatically shoot up and the State will be able to meet its responsibility of providing basic infrastructure including hospitals, schools, motorable roads for the people of the State.
“Meanwhile, I have constituted a crack team of legal practitioners to seriously consider the possibility of forcing the oil majors to open up their operational offices in the State by means of the legal process, should the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources fail to come to the aid of the State.
“The State Government would also in the interim closely interact with the oil majors with a view to exploring the possibility of achieving our aim, without resort to the legal process”.
