Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, on Monday said the state had officially joined Nigeria’s league of oil producing states with the discovery of crude oil by Tunde Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited in Badagry. Ambode made the declaration when the management of the company led by Mr Tunde Folawiyo, its Group Managing Director, paid him a courtesy visit at the Lagos House, Ikeja. He commended the firm for its doggedness and achievement of the feat after 25 years of hard work.
“I want to thank you very much for this and I know that based on section 162 Sub-Section 2 of the Nigeria Constitution, Lagos has become an oil producing state. By the virtue of this achievement, the 13 per cent derivation that is due to oil producing states, Lagos will start to partake from it by your very good gesture. So, we officially declare Lagos State an oil producing state.
“We also notify the Federal Government by this action that we would be sharing out of the 13 per cent derivation. All we need do is to apply and then we join,” Ambode said.
The governor said that the feat had placed Lagos in the history books as the first state outside the Niger Delta to become an oil producing state. He said it had also opened up a new page for revenue generation in the state.
“It also means that by the additional revenue that is coming from this action, we would have more resources to provide infrastructure for Lagos residents. We are urging other investors and businessmen to emulate this gesture, so that beyond the issue of profit, you are actually impacting positively on people,” he said.
Ambode said that Tunde Folawiyo Petroleum Company, being an indigenous firm, had shown the possibilities and opportunities for investors and businessmen willing to commit their resources to local production. The Federal Government has always said that we all need to look inwards and start to do things for ourselves.
