Nando Times

ABUJA, Nigeria (April 9, 2001 4:49 p.m. EDT) - Some 200 lawyers crowded before the Supreme Court Monday for a government-orchestrated legal showdown over the way Nigeria splits profits from oil production.

The issue is whether Nigeria's government is distributing profits from its state-run oil production facilities equitably. Nigeria is the world's sixth largest oil producer. Oil sales account for more than 80 percent of the government's revenue.

Nigeria's constitution dictates that oil-producing states get a 13 percent share of oil revenues paid the federal government.

But more companies are drilling their wells offshore of the oil states and the federal government is seeking a Supreme Court ruling dictating those wells are outside state boundaries and subject only to federal jurisdiction.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), April 10, 2001

Answers

the question is whether the states have offshore boundaries. If they don't, they miss out.

I'd expect that federal government income benefits the whole country. They need to get federal legislators to distribute the new wealth.

-- John Littmann (LITTMANNJOHNTL@AOL.COM), April 10, 2001.