The Federal Government of Nigeria, acting through the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), has commenced a five-day exercise to plot the coordinates of newly drilled and disputed oil and gas fields on the boundaries of several oil producing states as part of efforts to clarify entitlement to the 13 per cent derivation fund.
The exercise began in Abuja with representatives from affected states and federal agencies.
At the opening event, RMAFC Chairman Dr. Mohammed Shehu said the coordinates of these oil and gas fields have been identified and would now be formally plotted to resolve long-standing ownership disputes.
He reaffirmed the constitutional mandate of the Commission to ensure equitable distribution of the 13 per cent derivation allocation to oil and gas producing states.
Shehu explained that in June 2025, the Commission inaugurated an Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) comprising officials from the National Boundary Commission, the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and RMAFC to carry out verification and coordinate retrieval for both new and disputed oil wells.
“It is constitutional that 13 per cent derivation is paid to states where mineral resources, especially crude oil and gas, are produced,”
Shehu said, noting that the NUPRC requested the Commission to verify the coordinates of both the new oil wells and those subject to boundary disagreements.
The exercise will cover fields located between states including Edo and Delta, Ondo and Delta, Anambra and Delta, Anambra and Imo, Rivers and Imo, Rivers and Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom, and Cross River and Akwa Ibom.
The physical verification involved fieldwork in various terrains including offshore, creeks and high seas, with surveyors-general of the affected states present as witnesses to ensure transparency and accuracy.
Mrs Kadija Umo, Chairman of the Inter-Agency Technical Committee, explained that the process of physical verification was undertaken to ensure accuracy in determining which states should be assigned derivation entitlement from each well.
She noted that the field verification exercise was unprecedented in its scope compared with previous data relied on solely from regulatory agencies.
RMAFC officials said the final report from the plotting exercise is expected to be ready by next week and will inform the formal allocation of derivation funds based on the precise location of oil and gas production assets.
The initiative aims to reduce tensions over resource ownership among producing states and support transparent federal revenue sharing.
The exercise underscores ongoing federal efforts to address disputes tied to the 1999 Constitution’s provision for 13 per cent derivation, which ensures that states where crude oil and gas are produced receive a defined share of the revenue derived from those resources.
Observers say accurate coordinate plotting could help streamline derivation allocations and reduce inter-state conflicts over oil revenue rights, which have implications for fiscal federalism and sub-national development planning.
