the Niger State government has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to accord similar recognition to the Bida Basin by extending the directive to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to speed up oil exploration activities in the Chad basin to the basin (Bida) where oil deposit has also been confirmed.
This follows a revelation by the NNPC group managing director, Dr Maikanti Baru, that the corporation had been directed by the president to fast-track its hydrocarbon exploration efforts within the Chad Basin and Kolmani River in the northern part of the country.
Baru said in line with the directive, the corporation’s Frontier Exploration Services had been retooled to commence action in collaboration with the Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), which was already prospecting for oil within the basin.
He said the president had asked the corporation to explore the magnitude and prospects of the reported indicative discovery of hydrocarbons by Royal Dutch Oil Company and Shell in the Chad Basin and Kolmani River and also explained that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had been intimated on the need to assign blocks in the basin for prospective investors to take up.
While commending the president for stepping up measures for hydrocarbon exploration in the region, the Niger State government pointed out that the search would not be complete in the North until Bida Basin, which has a lot of potential, is included.
The government, in a statement by the commissioner of information, culture and tourism, Mr Jonathan Vatsa, yesterday, emphasised the need for the President Buhari led-administration to remember Bida Basin because there had been several efforts in crude search in the Basin over the years and results had shown that the prospect was high.
Vatsa said the state government had made effort by giving full support to the proposal on the Bida Basin Hydrocarbon Research that was initiated by the state-owned Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL) in 2010.
According to Vatsa, “Discoveries of oil will add to the economic potential of the state and the country, hence the renewed search for hydrocarbon deposits.”
He added that the last administration of Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu had set up a 24-man committee under the chairmanship of General Muhammadu Wushishi on the Development of Bida Basin with the mandate to establish facts about the availability of oil and gas in Bida Basin, and it was confirmed to be in commercial quantity.
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