Aiyedatiwa Partners Sahara Energy to Revive Dormant Ondo Oil Field

​Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has called for immediate action to revive a strategic oil asset in the state that has been dormant since 1998. Speaking during a courtesy visit by executives from the Sahara Energy Group at the Governor’s Office in Akure, Aiyedatiwa warned that prolonged delays in investment decisions and critical infrastructure gaps must be aggressively addressed if Nigeria is to hit its national crude oil production targets.

​The high-level engagement aligns with the federal government’s broader economic objective to ramp up national crude oil output from the current estimate of 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) to a target of 2 million bpd.

​Governor Aiyedatiwa emphasized that Ondo State—currently ranked fifth among Nigeria’s oil-producing states—deserves a more prominent position in the national energy landscape. He asserted that unlocking the state’s dormant assets is a viable pathway to significantly boosting national revenue and local development.

​Reflecting on the asset’s history, the Governor recalled a past fire incident at the field during his tenure as the state’s representative on the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). He noted that the incident exposed severe inconsistencies in operational data management by previous operators.

​”They claimed then that there was no operation in that place, that there’s no oil,” Aiyedatiwa remarked. “And I was like, how can a place with no oil be on fire? Is it water that is bringing out the fire?”

​To prevent such legacy issues, the Governor urged operators to prioritize modernization, digital tracking, and structural reforms to eliminate human error and leakages. “If leakages are being blocked and the management of the production and the movement of products… can be digitalized, remove some human errors and all that, maybe we’ll be able to hit that [national production target],” he added.

​Assuring Sahara Energy of a secure and business-friendly climate, Aiyedatiwa revealed that the state government has already awarded dredging contracts to improve security and logistics along the waterways leading to production sites. He pledged that host communities would remain central to his administration’s development plans.

​Responding on behalf of the energy conglomerate, the Executive Director of Sahara Energy, Kola Adesina, confirmed that technical teams are already conducting integrity tests and structured evaluations to determine the asset’s current viability.

​Adesina lamented that the asset had remained “stranded” for nearly three decades, depriving both the state and local communities of substantial economic value.

​”The asset we have here, the last time it was operated was 1998,” Adesina stated. “Of course, it simply means that’s a stranded asset that has not been unlocked fully to the advantage of the people.”

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​He commended the Aiyedatiwa administration for its proactive stance on ease of doing business, adding that returning the field to full production will rely on sustained capital injection, advanced technology, and a transparent partnership between the government, operators, and host communities to ensure shared prosperity.