Presidency ‘halts oil exploration’ in Niger



President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Petroluem, Mrs Diezani Alison Madueke, have tactically halted the prospecting of oil in the Bida Basin of Niger state and the establishment of a refinery at Baro port with their refusal to grant oil bloc and operational licence to the state government, the Niger state Commissioner of Mines and Solid Minerals Development, Engeneer Jibrin Mohammed, has said.

The commissioner stated this yesterday when he addressed members of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Downstream, led by its chairman, Honourable Dagogo Peterside, who paid a courtesy visit to Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu at the Government House in Minna.

He explained that investigations by oil exploration experts have confirmed the presence of hydro carbon in the Bida Basin, adding that further investigations by experts in Port Harcourt on the hydro carbons indicated that there were 70 percent gas and 30 percent oil in the basin.
He regretted that the state could not however proceed to the next level in the exploration process because the presidency and the ministry were yet to respond to the application for approval as required by the law.

He said: “We set up a committee to find out what was happening after several months of not hearing from the ministry and we discovered that the letter was still on the minister’s table”.

In his remark, Governor Aliyu said he would not want to politicise the matter, adding that the important thing was that it has been established that oil was in commercial quantity in the Bida Basin.

He said the delay may have something to do with the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), stressing the need for the National Assembly to expedite action on the passage of the bill.

He insisted that if Niger Republic and Chad had hit oil in large quantities, the prospects of getting oil in the North, and in Niger state in particular, was very high.

Aliyu took a swipe at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), insisting that the corporation was not declaring the actual production figures of oil per day. He said there was the need to reorganise the corporation for efficiency. “Nobody knows how much oil is being produced in Nigeria”, he said.

However, the House Committee Chairman, Honourable Peterside, disagreed with the governor, explaining that it was unfair for anyone to say that the amount of oil being produced in the country was not known.

He explained that the problem was that most of the oil being produced was being stolen away, adding that the emphasis should be on how to curtail the activities of the oil thieves.

alaoeri: Small time now niger/delta shakara 'our oyel' 'll end.

alaoeri: Small time now niger/delta shakara 'our oyel' 'll end.

donphilopus: the Oil has come to stay, no matter the Plans of the Enemy

solomon111: you must be an illiterate.
The topography and geographical composition of the north does not support oil formation.
I wonder why you're not bothered that we've been wasting money exploring for oil in impossible places.
Ethnic Bigotry has degraded your mind.

Donmams: Hmmm. Can't wait for the country to be divided. Soon oil will be explored in the north and all those fools thinking that the north will be destroyed if we go our separate ways will be put to shame! In addition, we still maintain 70% of the country's landmass, agriculture will boom and the hydro electricity supply will be cut off to the south. That will mean 24 hour electricity for the north! Abeg GEJ hurry divide the country sharp sharp

solomon111: you must be an illiterate.
The topography and geographical composition of the north does not support oil formation.
I wonder why you're not bothered that we've been wasting money exploring for oil in impossible places.
Ethnic Bigotry has degraded your mind.

Don Magic Juan: On a serious note, no single investor will want to invest in northern Nigeria for a whole lot of reasons.
Even in the Niger-Delta oil firms are de-investing on-shore and concentrating offshore.
This is one reason coupled with oil theft and vandalization that oil revenues have dropped.

Now picture northern Nigeria today with Boko Haram. Which firm other than an Arab oil company with Arab expats may be tolerated by Muslim fanatics but [b]there is no such thing as Arab oil workers [/b]as most of the drilling is done by american, European and Indonesian drillers.

Now after you drill the oil, you need to ship it. The most ideal route will be through Kogi and Ondo. Saboteurs will ensure that this pipeline is constantly vandalized. And who will these saboteurs be? Well the same people who if they don't get their way will always cause trouble; The Tinibus, IBBs, Buharis, etc.

jp philips:


you are a stark illiterate for obvious reasons

dustydee:

I do not want to believe you are a graduate. Did you make a mistake while typing the above or just repeating what you heard elsewhere?
Your statement is the one that smells of bigotry.

solomon111: Nonsense!
We've wasted billions of naira exploring for oil in the desert,all because these abokis are obsessed with oil.
All those money gone down the drain with no single drop of oil in sight.

toothpaste: To give aboki crude oil

In such a volatile region. That would simply provide more funds for boko namas

Aboki doesn't deserve hydrocarbon. Give him gworo

solomon111: you must be an illiterate.
The topography and geographical composition of the north does not support oil formation.
I wonder why you're not bothered that we've been wasting money exploring for oil in impossible places.
Ethnic Bigotry has degraded your mind.

toothpaste: To give aboki crude oil

In such a volatile region. That would simply provide more funds for boko namas

Aboki doesn't deserve hydrocarbon. Give him gworo

Me_Aboki:

In the same vain as some monkeys in the bush are causing volatility in their region, foolishly blowing up pipelines and polluting everywhere (in kind of cutting off one's nose to spite his face).
Yes these ppl are so animalistic that they eat themselves, so arrogant and full of themselves; yet so shallow and empty as hell.
No no they don't deserved any hydrocarbon as well, that's why the abokis (that they hate so much) have divided the oil blocs between themselves, leaving them with only peanuts for the monkeys they are - foolish boy (since the moderators will continue to ignore such tribalistic insults, we shall also indulge in fighting fire with fire).