By Ese Ufuoma
Nigeria has taken a decisive and strategic step to address decades-old disputes over oil and gas well locations that have long-strained relationships among oil-producing states and complicated revenue allocation under the nation’s fiscal framework, a development that industry stakeholders and policymakers alike have welcomed as a critical turning point in the governance of the country’s hydrocarbon resources. The initiative, driven by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), represents a comprehensive attempt to bring clarity and legal certainty to contested oil and gas assets across the Niger Delta and adjoining offshore regions where overlapping claims have impeded equitable distribution of the constitutionally mandated 13 per cent derivation funds to states where hydrocarbons are produced.
At the heart of the renewed effort is an inter agency verification and plotting exercise that was formally launched in late 2025 and has continued into early 2026, during which technical teams drawn from the RMAFC, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation (OSGoF) and the National Boundary Commission (NBC) worked to establish definitive geographic coordinates for both long standing disputed wells and recently drilled oil and gas assets. The process was instigated following a series of formal petitions from governors in Anambra, Delta, Imo, Edo, Ondo, Rivers and other states seeking legal clarity on the ownership and precise territorial boundaries of key fields such as the Aneize, Eyine and Ameshi blocks, and extending to offshore areas where jurisdictional claims have been particularly contentious.
The rationale underpinning this nationwide exercise goes beyond mere cartography, as Nigeria’s federal framework ties the derivation principle directly to the location of natural resources and thus the economic interest of sub-national governments, and unresolved disputes have historically sown discord and contributed to litigation, mistrust and inefficiencies in public revenue management. By committing to a data-driven verification of well coordinates and the subsequent plotting of those verified positions on official charts, the federal government aims not only to quell interstate rivalries but also to reinforce confidence in the federation account and reduce the political friction that has hindered cooperative development in the oil and gas sector.
Crucially, the exercise has involved extensive fieldwork, with surveyor generals and technical experts deploying modern geospatial tools and, in cases where terrain challenges limited physical access, unmanned aerial vehicles to capture accurate locational data, thus ensuring that the outcomes are grounded in robust evidence rather than contested claims or antiquated maps. This meticulous approach has helped secure broad participation from the affected states and enhanced transparency, which was underscored by the presence of state representatives during key phases of verification and by the public calls from RMAFC leadership for full cooperation among stakeholders so that the final results would be broadly acceptable and sustainable.
As the verification phase was completed, the focus shifted to the plotting of the coordinates themselves, marking a visible progression toward resolution after years of uncertainty and protracted claims; the coordinated mapping effort is expected to yield definitive determinations of which states can legitimately claim derivation revenue from specific wells, and in cases where wells lie along shared boundaries, to establish frameworks for joint administration that comport with existing regulatory provisions. This next phase was formally flagged off in Abuja, with RMAFC Chairman Dr. Mohammed Bello Shehu stressing the constitutional mandate of the Commission to monitor revenue accruals and disbursements from the federation account and to ensure fairness in resource-based revenue distribution.
Beyond technical mapping, the initiative has broader implications for Nigeria’s oil and gas sector governance and investor confidence, as unresolved disputes have in the past been cited as a risk factor in exploration and production commitments, particularly as new wells come on stream and attract competing claims. The federal government’s willingness to undertake a nationwide exercise involving multiple agencies signals a commitment to institutionalising data integrity and rule-based resource management, which could help mitigate future disputes and create a more predictable fiscal environment for both domestic and international operators.
Moreover, the clear delineation of well locations and the equitable determination of derivation revenue entitlements are expected to reduce litigation risks, streamline fiscal transfers to sub-national governments, and foster improved collaboration between states and federal regulators, which in turn could support long-term investment planning and enhance accountability in revenue administration. Analysts observe that clarity rooted in objective data can defuse long-standing tensions that have sometimes impeded coordinated infrastructure development, community engagement initiatives and joint ventures in the basin’s prolific hydrocarbon belts.
The broader energy policy context also underscores the timeliness of the initiative as Nigeria continues to grapple with structural reforms in its upstream and regulatory architecture, including wider debates about the role of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and potential shifts in contractual governance under the Petroleum Industry Act; in such an environment, establishing an authoritative and transparent foundation for resource ownership helps align fiscal policy with sector growth imperatives and strengthens the legal underpinning for future upstream investments.
At the community level, resolving well location disputes has the potential to improve social cohesion in the Niger Delta, where ambiguous boundaries and contested claims have periodically fueled mistrust between neighbouring states and local constituencies, and where expectations for derivation funds support socio-economic development programs and infrastructure projects. By conclusively demarcating oil and gas assets, the federal government seeks to ensure that revenues flow to rightful beneficiaries, which can, in turn, anchor more effective planning and service delivery in producing states.
In sum, Nigeria’s fresh policy action to resolve age long oil and gas well location disputes represents a significant advance in the nation’s efforts to strengthen institutional governance, enhance transparency, and foster equitable revenue sharing within its oil-dependent fiscal framework, and while implementation challenges remain, the progress achieved to date points to a clearer, more predictable and data anchored future for resource management in Africa’s largest crude producer.