Omo-Agege, NNPC bicker over NGC relocation plan

Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege on Monday tackled the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over its alleged planned relocation of the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) headquarters from Ekpan-Warri in Delta State.

The NNPC had in a statement, described as unfortunate statement credited to Sen. Omo-Agege where he reportedly condemned alleged moves by the Corporation to relocate NGC headquarters from the Niger Delta region.

While calling on NGC host communities and other stakeholders to disregard the relocation tale which it described as totally false, the oil firm maintained that Sen Omo-Agege has “been misinformed or was quoted out of context noting that the subject of relocation of NGC was never on the table for deliberation by the NNPC management.”

Responding to the NNPC statement yesterday, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Deputy President of the Senate, Mr. Yomi Odunuga, said his principal spoke from an informed position.

“Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to the NNPC stating that the Deputy President of the Senate, Distinguished Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, was either misinformed or must have been quoted out of context in his plea for multinational oil  companies to relocate their headquarters to the Niger Delta region.

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“Specifically, he had sought a commitment that the planned relocation of the headquarters of the NGC from Ekpan-Warri in Delta State should be dropped as it’s relocation could jeopardise developmental strides in the area.

“While it is gratifying that the NNPC, in the statement signed by its General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, has assured all the stakeholders in the region that neither  the NGC nor any of its other subsidiaries would be relocated outside the area of operation, the following clarifications have become necessary.

“First, there has been widespread anxieties among stakeholders in the Niger Delta over alleged plans for the relocation of the NGC; it has been on the front burner for many months before the Deputy President of the Senate drew attention to it during the ministerial screening.

“The issue, it must be stressed, was the focus of a peaceful youthful protest by Niger Delta youths earlier in January this year at the premises of the NGC and this disrupted the activities of the gas firm until an official from the Delta State Government and other stakeholders  intervened and normalcy was restored. This particular event was widely reported and it was given ample coverage in The Guardian newspaper of January 8, 2019 with the title “Delta youths protest against planned relocation of gas company.’