For the
second time in three weeks, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
has received an express order from President Muhammadu Buhari to explore
for oil in the North.
This time, the President directed the national oil firm to commence
exploration activities in the Benue Trough. The Benue Trough is a major
geological formation underlying a large part of Nigeria, extending about
1,000km North-East from the Bight of Benin to Lake Chad.
The Group Managing Director, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, disclosed the
President’s directive on the oil expolration in the North while
receiving a delegation from the Benue State Government at the
corporation’s headquarters in Abuja.
About three weeks ago, the President had directed the corporation to
speed up its prospect for oil in the region, specifically in the Chad
Basin and Kolmani River, following the reported discovery of
hydrocarbons by Shell in the area.
The 19 northern state governors are also fired up about the prospect
of oil production in their domain as they have hired a British firm
through the Northern Nigeria Development Company, which they jointly
own, to carry out the exploration activities.
But energy analysts and several socio-cultural and other interest
groups on Tuesday expressed divergent views on the pressure by the
President on the NNPC as regards oil exploration in the North.
The NNPC GMD, in a statement from the corporation on Tuesday, said
the new directive was in line with the current efforts to guarantee
energy security of the country.
Baru said, “Very close home, we have exploration activities on the
Frontier Basin, that is in the Chad; and there are some areas close to
the Kolmani River where Shell has made indicative discovery of
hydrocarbons and Mr. President has directed me to go into that area to
further explore the magnitude and prospects of those finds.
“We are taking steps to get into those regions. We will reinvigorate
the frontier exploration and see how they collaborate with the Northern
Nigeria Development Company that is holding Block 809 where some of the
finds have been found. We will also do the same at the Department of
Petroleum Resources for the other blocks that have not been assigned,
and work towards proving the prospects of that region.”
But the Ijaw Youth Council and Urhobo Monitoring and Development
Group while reacting to the presidential directive said it was a good
initiative but came at a wrong time.
The IYC, an umbrella body for the Ijaw youths worldwide, said that
the timing for the directive was wrong because of the prevailing
situation in the oil industry at the international market, which made
such a venture economically unwise.
A statement signed by the spokesman for the group, Eric Omare, said
one would have expected that President Buhari-led government should
focus on diversifying the nation’s ailing economy, especially areas
where the different regions had comparative advantage over the other.
“Ordinary, the IYC would be excited by not just a Presidential
directive to explore for oil in any part of the North but discovery of
oil in the North. This is so because we strongly believe that the
struggle of the people of the Niger Delta region for equitable
distribution of oil money would become a reality once oil is found in
the North as well.”
On its part, the National President of the Urhobo Monitoring and
Development Group, Kingsley Oberuruaria, posited that while the
directive was good, it was a self-serving step to further annihilate the
people of the region from benefitting from its God-given natural
resources.
Oberuruaria explained that the desire of the President was to cut the
region out of the country’s scheme of things once oil production fully
came alive in that region while the Niger Delta, which had been feeding
the nation, would forever be neglected.
The Niger Delta youth leader posited that such a presidential
directive should be put into various ailing industries in the country
such as the Delta Steel Company in Aladja, Delta State, which he said
was capable of employing hundreds of thousands of unemployed Nigerian
youths.
“I’m sure this directive was as a result of the prevailing crisis in
the Niger Delta region. President Buhari has been looking for ways to
cut off the region instead of being resolute to develop the region which
has been neglected by every successive government,” he said.
But two prominent leaders of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural
organisation, Afenifere, Chief Sehinde Arogbofa and Yinka Odumakin,
differed on the issue.
Arogbofa, who is the Secretary-General of the association, said it
would be part of the way to restructure the country, which the
association had been clamouring for.
He said, “There is nothing wrong if they find oil in the North. That
is why we are calling for restructuring; if that is his (Buhari) own
restructuring agenda, it is okay. We already have oil in the South and
if he orders for prospect of oil in the North, there is nothing wrong in
that .”
But the group’s spokesman, Odumakin, said it was a wasted effort. He
recalled, “Mr. Alan Lennox-Boyde, the Secretary of State for the
Colonies in a memorandum on Nigerian Constitutional Conference wrote in
1958: The North fears and dislikes the more educated Southerners and if
they were not economically bound to the federation, they would be glad
to be quit of it. What he stated has not changed much till date and this
may explain the desperate search for oil in the North at a time oil is
becoming worthless.”
Also, the President, Campaign for Democracy, Bako Usman, said the President was not getting good advice.
He said, “What is worth doing, they say, is worth doing well. We as a
people need to acknowledge the fact that this government needs an
effective economic direction. For now, most people around Mr. President
on the pay roll of taxpayers money are just but ill Advisers.
The Pan-northern socio-cultural group, Arewa Consultative Forum, said
it was not aware of the Presidential pronouncement on oil exploration
in the region.
The National Publicity Secretary of the forum, Muhammad Ibrahim, told
one of our correspondents in Kaduna on Tuesday that he was not aware of
Buhari’s order to the NNPC to prospect for oil in the region.
The Head of Energy Research, Ecobank Capital, Mr. Dolapo Oni, said
the move must have been informed by the need to reduce the reliance on
the Niger Delta and reduce the country’s vulnerability to attacks in the
region.
He said, “But, at a time when we don’t have enough money to run the
economy, even though oil servicing charges are a lot lesser now due to
the drop in oil prices, it is still not the right time to dedicate a
large amount of money to search for oil in the North.
“Ideally, the idea will be a concession and allow companies do
whatever they need to do. If we want to do 2D and 3D seismic, we can do
it, gather that data and allow oil companies to come and do their own
search. But if we are dedicating the NNPC’s scarce resources to going
beyond the 2D and 3D, I think it may not be the best of time.”
The Project Director, Uquo Gas Field Development, a joint venture
project by Frontier Oil Limited and Seven Energy, Mr. Abdullahi Bukar,
described the renewed efforts towards exploring for oil in the Benue
Trough and Chad Basin as a very good development.
He said, “I hope that a well-thought-out policy will be put in place
because anything that will increase Nigeria’s oil and gas reserves is
very welcome.”
The Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr.
Johnson Chukwu, said the discovery of oil in Niger Republic must have
been a major boost for Nigeria to continue to prospect for oil in the
Sahel region.
Describing the effort to diversify the nation’s oil and gas
production as a good move, he said, “It depends on the level of
resources being committed to it. I think it is something the government
needs to be very circumspect in committing resources to it. It is very
likely that what would be achieved in the Chad Basin will be marginal
deposits. So, I don’t think the government is going to be too bullish in
terms of the resources it is going to commit to such effort.”
The Director-General, West African Institute for Financial and
Economic Management, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, said, “There is nothing wrong in
getting more oil. But my worry is the dependence on non-renewable
resources without adding value to it.”
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