It’s unfair for IOCs to extract oil in Bayelsa and pay VAT in Lagos – Diri

Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, said the International Oil Companies (IOCs) are unfair to the state by extracting oil there and paying their taxes in Lagos where their operational headquarters are.

Speaking during the launching of the $50 million research and development fund utilization roadmap for the oil and gas industry in Nigeria by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), the governor said the state is more peaceful than many states in the country, hence, it is meaningless for the oil companies to cite insecurity for relocating their headquarters from the state.

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He said with the ongoing scrambling for the control of VAT by the brother governors, it will be fair for the oil companies to relocate, so that they will pay their taxes where they actually work.

Represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, Diri said that Bayelsa State government and entire Niger Delta region are not still very satisfied with what is going on in the Nigerian oil industry.

He said: “Thank God most of you are here in Bayelsa State today, the local content is here, you can see this magnificent building, you can see the men that are here, nothing untoward has happened to them.”