Lagos, Nigeria | – International and major oil companies including Chevron Corporation and ExxonMobil are keeping mum on the growing calls for the relocation of their main offices to the Niger Delta where they carry out their exploration and production activities.
Stakeholders and groups in the Niger Delta have called for major oil firms to relocate their head offices to the main areas of operations in the region. Nigeria’s Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo recently ordered major oil companies to relocate their main offices to the Niger Delta as part of measures to curb the unrest in the region.
Chevron Nigeria Limited, ExxonMobil, Total E&P Nigeria and Nigerian Agip Oil Company, the subsidiary of Italian oil major Eni, have their head offices in Lagos. While Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch Shell has its corporate headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in the heart of the Niger Delta.
Some industry experts do not think it is the best solution, suggesting that other creative solutions should be explored instead of asking them to move their headquarters to the Niger Delta.
However, stakeholders and groups, community leaders and former militants have all clamoured for major oil firms to relocate their head offices to the main areas of operations in the region. The Rivers State Information Commissioner, Mr. Austin Tam-George, was quoted by AFP to have said in a statement that if the oil companies moved their headquarters to the Niger Delta, they would be more responsive to the grievances of the people with a view to addressing them.
