After Wasting, $3 Billion US Dollars, Yet No Drop Of Oil Found In The North And Buhari Refuses To Give Up

After Wasting, $3 Billion US Dollars, Yet No Drop Of Oil Found In The North And Buhari Refuses To Give Up

Emerging reports, indicate that $3 billion has already been sunk, in a bid by President Muhammadu Buhari to discover oil in the North.

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The President, Governors Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe; Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto; and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa States, were recently in separate closed-door meetings, to discuss oil exploration in the Northern Nigeria.

The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, and Head of Transparency International Nigeria, Auwal Musa, described the move as unnecessary, and not in the best interest of the country.

Musa said: “We should not bring regional politics to everything that can benefit the entire country. The project has not been seen as a national effort to diversify revenue. If it is seen as something meant for national interest, I do not think there is the need for the Sokoto State Governor or anyone to lobby. There are signals that it is going to favour one particular region.”

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Elsewhere, Senator Shehu Sani, during a visit of members of the Kaduna State Students Union to his office, in Kaduna, noted that “past leaders have amassed wealth through this venture”, and instead called on Buhari to investigate the over $3 billion already spent on the project.

However, a new directive from the Buhari-led administration has compelled the Nigeria, National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to aggressively pursue oil search in the frontier basins, its Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, said.

Regardless of the criticisms, Baru said the Corporation would not give up on the mandate given to it by Buhari, to aggressively explore the inland basins, including Anambra, Bida, Benue, Chad, Gongola, and Sokoto.

Baru further stated that, based on preliminary results from the exploration in the inland basins so far, especially the Benue Trough, there was a strong indication that commercial quantity oil and gas find, would soon be a reality.

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