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Urges Immediate Transmission of Report to President
By David Odama
The Cross River State Economic Intelligence Team (CREIT) has objected to attempts to downplay or administratively dilute the findings of the Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) Report on the verification of disputed crude oil and gas well coordinates among oil-producing states.
CREIT made this known in response to a recent public statement by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) concerning the status and implications of the IATC exercise
In a statement jointly signed by Barr. John Gaul Lebo and Barr. Abang Odok Ogar, Esq. For CREIT, the IATC verification mission was a presidentially mandated inter-agency technical exercise involving statutory institutions and state actors, and its outcomes constitute critical national technical intelligence with direct implications for revenue derivation, maritime boundary security, offshore resource governance, and Nigeria’s strategic posture in the Gulf of Guinea.
IATC REPORT IS A NATIONAL SECURITY DOCUMENT
CREIT stressed that the IATC Report is not a routine internal memorandum but a document of national security importance, noting that any attempt to characterise it as “speculative” or merely “draft” undermines the credibility of the inter-agency process and weakens public confidence in transparent governance.
SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS CANNOT BE DISPLACED
The Team explained that the plotting of 239 crude oil and gas wellheads and coordinates on the most accurate scientific base maps of Nigeria produced clear and verifiable outcomes demonstrating reservoir continuity and the precise spatial attribution of offshore accumulations within the maritime territory of Cross River State.
“These findings are evidence-based outcomes of scientific verification and cannot be displaced by administrative re-characterisation or procedural delay,” the statement said.
MARITIME SECURITY RISKS MUST NOT BE IGNORED
The body further warned that the Cross River Estuary and adjoining offshore maritime spaces represent strategic national navigation and security corridors, and any manipulation of the technical findings of the IATC poses grave risks to Nigeria’s maritime boundary integrity and continental shelf entitlements.
OBJECTION TO POST-FACTO INTERFERENCE
The Team strongly objected to post-facto influence by heads of federal agencies who were not members of the Committee, stressing that the integrity of the inter-agency framework requires that the Committee’s technical findings stand independently and must not be subjected to administrative gatekeeping.
CREIT also recalled the IATC plenary session of 26 January 2025, where an attempt was made to compel the Committee to adopt an obsolete 2008 oil dichotomy variant map, despite documentary evidence from 2024 discrediting its continued technical validity.
CALL FOR IMMEDIATE TRANSMISSION TO MR PRESIDENT
CREIT expressed concern that an earlier inter-agency verification report of May 2024, which reportedly recommended the attribution of 67 oil wells to Cross River State, has yet to be transmitted to Mr President.
The Team therefore urged the Chairman of RMAFC to ensure that both the 2024 and 2025 IATC Reports are forwarded to the President without delay, together with any minority technical observations as annexes, rather than withholding or sanitising the core scientific findings.
EXPECTATIONS
CREIT stated that it expects: The IATC Report to be preserved in its original technical integrity;
The plotting outcomes on the 239 verified coordinates to remain the evidentiary baseline for attribution;
The national maritime security implications of the Cross River Estuary to be expressly recognised; and
The team therefore employed that the Report be transmitted immediately to Mr President for executive consideration and constitutional action.
“Cross River State’s position is grounded not in sentiment but in science, verified coordinates, reservoir systems, and the overriding national interest.
“Nigeria’s inter-agency governance credibility depends on protecting technical truth from administrative dilution,” the statement concluded.
