The Senate has mandated its Committee on Petroleum Upstream, Downstream, and Gas to probe the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act with regard to the potential exit of international oil companies from Nigeria.
This was contained in a statement from the press unit of the lawmaker representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District, Senator Aniekan Bassey, during Thursday’s plenary.
According to the statement which was made available to our correspondent in Uyo on Saturday, the development followed a motion brought by the senator.
Senator Bassey, in his motion, titled “Urgent Need for Enquiry into Implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 with Regards to Potential Exit of International Oil Companies from Nigeria: Case of ExxonMobil in Akwa Ibom State,” prayed the Senate to get involved and salvage the situation.
The Senator expressed concern about “the potential adverse effects of the exit of ExxonMobil from Akwa Ibom State, including high loss of jobs, exit of professionals and service companies from Akwa Ibom, loss of revenue as well as abandonment of certain yet to be satisfied obligations.”
He added that “the new company taking over the assets and liabilities of ExxonMobil may not have sufficient capacity to successfully step into the ExxonMobil footprints and/ or muscle the pending obligations hitherto managed by ExxonMobil in the oil-producing states and host communities. For instance, where clean-up is required or where capital-intensive corporate responsibilities were commenced.”
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