By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

Calabar – Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has faulted the report credited to his Akwa Ibom  counterpart, Chief Godswill Akpabio, that Cross River State has been receiving N600 million monthly from the Federal Government since the state’s 76 oil wells were ceded to Akwa Ibom State.

Governor Imoke in a statement, said the report was not true and a deliberate attempt to misinform the public.
In the statement by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Patrick Ugbe, the governor said there was no truth in the claims.

He noted that the state had lost over N20 billion to the ceding of the  oil wells.

Imoke said: “Without joining issues with our sister state, we are, however, amazed at the deliberate misinformation of the public. Cross River State has never earned N600 million or any amount in any month from Akwa Ibom State. The N600 million may have been the assumption of the governor.

Probably, the governor may have mistaken the N600 million which Akwa Ibom State earned when it was a non-derivation state because of the on-shore/off shore dichotomy, as a compensation for environmental degradation and rather attributed it to Cross River State.”

He explained that since the loss of the 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom State, Cross River has been receiving  only 50 per cent of what was due to it as compensation for the loss of the wells.