The conversations about the force majeure declared by ExxonMobil have assumed a loud dimension demanding an official response from the State Government, so as to avail the citizenry the opportunity to sieve lies and falsehood from the reality which stares all of us in the face.
The truth as admitted by ExxonMobil is that in December 2020, they declared a force majeure due to a fire incident on one of their platforms.
It is common knowledge that our country depends almost solely on crude oil and any slight disruption in production will consequentially affect the country’s earnings, which will in turn reduce the volume of revenue available in the distributable pool, from where states draw their statutory allocation from.
The processes of production declaration through to financial remittance to the federation account and subsequent allocation takes an unabridged period of 90 days, which clearly explains why a force majeure declared in December, 2020 can reflect and become an issue in March 2021.
The implication of this reduction in revenue obviously indicates that an economic challenge is enroute, but there is certainly nothing to worry.
We have as a state been through an economic doom before in 2016, but divine Providence, through our Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, helped the state to weather the storm and we made it through. Despite the impending challenge, the factors that worked for us in the past have not changed and will sure work for us again.
Our people are therefore invited to continue to offer their support to the government in varied ways, trusting that God who was our help in ages past, will remain our present refuge and our future hope.