Buhari Promises ‘Immediate Response’ for Restoration of OML 46, Others

President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday pledged that he will address three major requests tabled by the Governor of Bayelsa State, Duoye Diri, including the Oil Mining Lease (OML 46) licence which was revoked by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) with “promptness and immediacy.”

Recall the licence for OML 46 asset, located within onshore swamps in the state, was won by the Bayelsa Government in 2013 through a bidding process conducted by the DPR.

But the DPR on April 6, 2020 announced the revocation of 11 of the 13 marginal fields licences it issued to indigenous oil firms to build capacity and promote Nigerians’ participation in the oil sector.

Diri had at the time said the marginal oil field remained a prized asset of the state to which it is sentimentally attached and called on the Federal Government to reconsider its decision on the matter.

According to a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the governor who led a delegation to the President, said he wanted the Federal Government to take over the Bayelsa State Medical University, now that government is setting up medical hospitals in the Geopolitical Zones; a speedy completion of three Federal roads in each of the Senatorial Districts; and the restoration of the Oil Mining Licence, “OML 46” to Bayelsa State, which he said was unjustly revoked and awarded to a private company.

According to the statement, President while responding to an address by the Governor during his visit to the State House in Abuja, stressed the need for immediate response to the Governor, saying, “Given the period we are in, I know most of you are in the field campaigning. I will respond to your requests as quickly as possible.”

Diri, who was accompanied on the visit by his immediate predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson, His Royal Majesty, King Alfred Diete-Spiff and the Chairman of the State’s Council of Traditional Rulers, His Royal Majesty, King Bubaraye Dakolo, said the three requests were important.

Diri said OML 46, is “emotional” to Bayelsans, whom he said, possessed the technical and financial capacity to manage the oil well.

The Governor congratulated the President on the nation’s attainment of 62nd Anniversary which coincides with Bayelsa’s 30th year of creation, and urged the President to continue with his balanced approach to issues of national development.