The Northern states can now heave a sigh of relief as the quantity of oil deposits in the Chad and Bida basins is said to be in commercial quantity and can be equated to the deposits in the South-South.
Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu also hinted that the North is prospecting for crude oil.
He told the Economic Confidential that there is oil in the Chad basin and the Bida basin in Niger State.
Aliyu said governors of the Northern region have also started the process of prospecting for the oil not only to shore up their fiscal position but also to prepare the North against the continued threat of oil domination from the south.
According to him: “We have not made any serious effort to tap these resources. We in Niger State have commissioned the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University at Lapai to carry out a survey of the Bida basin for the presence of oil and so far the report we are getting is cheering.”
The governor, who is the chairman, Northern Governors’ Forum, disclosed that the financial situation in most states in the North is assuming a precarious state.
He said that the situation has been compounded by the introduction of a new minimum wage for workers in all the states of the country irrespective of the fact that they are in a federation and the poor internally generated revenue base of most states after the payment of salaries. The governor regretted that most states have little resources to fund projects.
“States have been looking for other sources of funds to enable them meet their obligations,” he said, adding that “some states have gone to the capital market to get money to finance capital projects dear to the people while others resort to loans from commercial banks. This is why we have been asking that the Revenue Allocation Formula should be reviewed.
“As the case is now, there is too much money at the centre so we need to change the position because it is in the states and local government areas that we have the people. I will still want the revenue allocation formula to be reviewed if for nothing it has outstayed its usefulness, especially when it is the law that it should be reviewed every 10 years.”
On the recurrent communal clashes in the North, Governor Aliyu said that initially they thought the crises were religious before they realised other dimensions to the violent.
He said: “At first we believed that it was religion but with the dimension it has taken we need to carry out a thorough investigation into those behind these frequent attacks which have not only turned the North Eastern part of the country to ghost states and towns.
“One thing I know is that the communal clashes and frequent bomb blasts portend great danger for Nigeria as a country. Now you can see people moving in large numbers from one part of the country to the other this is not the type of country we want.
“We want a country where people will live in peace with one another irrespective of their place of birth or religious beliefs.”
The governor bemoaned the neglect of agriculture and industrialization by Nigerian elites and called for dialogue to resolve the nation’s problems

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