The Archbishop of Calabar and visionary of the Cross River Destiny Project Council, Josef Bassey, has said a 2025 federal scientific review confirmed the existence of 245 oil wells in Cross River State, exposing what he described as 18 years of false records that denied the state its rightful oil revenue.
Bassey accused the National Boundary Commission (NBC) of using a flawed 2008 provisional map to erase Cross River’s economic presence and weaken the state financially.
He made the disclosure in Calabar while speaking on the renewed efforts by the Federal Government and its agencies to remap states and resolve long-standing disputes over the location of oil wells.
According to him, Cross River was officially recorded as having zero oil wells for nearly two decades despite oil being drilled and produced from within its territory.
“For nearly eighteen years, Cross River State was officially recorded as having zero oil wells, while 245 oil wells drilled, pumped, and sustained the Nigerian economy from within our territory,” Bassey said.
“This was the deliberate weakening of a people, until the state became trapped in survival mode,” he added.
The cleric described the 2008 map issued by the NBC as a “weapon,” alleging that it was never finalised, authenticated, scientific, or lawful, yet was treated as superior to satellite coordinates, wellhead positioning, subsurface reservoir continuity, and Nigeria’s official geodetic framework.
Bassey said a November 2025 review by Nigeria’s Inter-Agency Committee on Maritime Boundaries, using geodetic data, satellite positioning, and subsurface reservoir analysis, confirmed that Cross River has 245 verified oil wells.
He warned that at least 42 of the wells sit on subsurface structures contiguous with Cameroon, and that failure to correct the records could expose Nigeria to transboundary disputes.
The archbishop said the provisional map was weaponised to erase Cross River from the nation’s economic map, leaving wounds that numbers alone cannot explain.
He appealed to President Bola Tinubu to reverse what he described as an injustice, replace the 2008 provisional map with the 2025 verified dataset, address the transboundary risks, and ensure judicial finality to the oil wells dispute.
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