The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has disowned a claim that the report on disputed oil wells in the Niger Delta has been discarded, stating that the document is still undergoing institutional review.
The clarification follows a now-deleted Facebook post made by Imo Akpan, the federal commissioner representing Akwa Ibom State at the commission, who had written that the Inter-agency Technical Committee (IATC) report “has been finally Discarded”.
|
|
“To God be the glory,” Mr Akpan had added.
However, when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES, the commission’s spokesperson, Maryam Yusuf, said Mr Akpan denied making the statement.
|
|
|
|---|
“I spoke with Hon Imo Akpan, and he told me that he never said so,” Ms Yusuf said. “Concerning the IATC report, the commission is looking into it and will make its position known to the public very soon.”
Report still under review
The IATC was set up by the RMAFC to verify the coordinates of disputed and newly drilled oil and gas wells across the Niger Delta, with a view to determining ownership and ensuring accurate disbursement of the constitutionally mandated 13 per cent derivation revenue to oil-producing states.
The disputed wells span several states, including Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Imo, Edo, Ondo and Rivers.
In a recent statement, the RMAFC chairman, Mohammed Bello said the commission only received a draft of the IATC report on 13 February 2026 and has since forwarded it to relevant agencies for technical input.
The agencies include the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the National Boundary Commission, and the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation.
According to the chairman, the report will undergo further scrutiny by the commission’s internal committees on crude oil and gas, as well as legal matters, before being presented at a plenary session for final deliberation.
He added that the commission’s final recommendations would subsequently be transmitted to President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney-General of the Federation for consideration, in line with constitutional provisions.
READ ALSO: N1.19bn Upgrade Fails: Runway light outage strands Ibom Air passengers
Controversy and deletion
The Facebook post attributed to Mr Akpan has since been deleted despite wide circulation, adding to concerns about the accuracy of the claim and the circumstances surrounding its publication.
This is not the first time the commissioner has removed a controversial social media statement.
In February, PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Akpan deleted a Facebook comment in which he mocked protesters who had stormed the National Assembly to demand legal backing for real-time transmission of election results.
Mr Akpan had deleted the comment shortly after PREMIUM TIMES contacted him for clarification.
