Governor Willie Obiano Anambra will begin to earn thirteen per cent derivation in line with its status as an oil producing state from March, 2022.
Government House Correspondent, Ejike Abana reports that Governor Obiano disclosed this during an engagement with journalists in his Aguleri Country home after a tour of the Anambra International Convention Center, Awka and the Umueri Cargo and Passenger Airport.
According to the Governor, he was notified by the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Pricing and Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) who had confirmed lifting of crude oil in commercial quantity in Anambra.
He pointed out that Anambra had fifteen oil wells operated by SEEPCO fully operational and wholly owned by the state.
Oil Producing States in the country receive thirteen per cent derivation as a benefits transfer scheme as stipulated in Section one-six-two, Sub-section two of the Nigerian Constitution.
Governor Obiano also used the occasion to say that the rice production of the state had risen to five hundred and thirty thousand metric tonnes yearly from the eighty-five thousand metric tonnes capacity of 2014, saying that the revolution his administration has endangered in the agricultural sector made the state become not only self-sufficient in production but a net exporter of the commodity.
While revealing that the state demand was just about three hundred and thirty thousand metric tonnes of the total output, Governor Obiano noted that businesses had been invested in the sector, noting that many family economies had been transformed as a result.
Speaking about the Anambra Airport, the Governor said that once it was fully operational, it would boost trade and commerce as well as the export capacities of the state, emphasizing that the ten thousand capacity International Convention Centre would be inaugurated in March 9.