From Saka Bolaji . Minna
Barely two days after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered intensive search for crude oil in the Chad Basin, the Niger State Government has called on the Federal Government to include the Bida Basin in the new presidential directive.
While commending the President Buhari led-administration for stepping up measures for prospecting activities in the region, the Niger State government said the search will not be complete in the north until Bida Basin, which has a lot of potential, is included.
In a statement signed on Wednesday, the Niger state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Comrade Jonathan Tsado Vatsa called on the Federal government to remember Bida basin because there had been several intensification of crude oil search with re-invigorated exploration based on fresh strategy.
It would be recalled that the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, hinted recently that the government was stepping up measures to ensure a successful operation in the on-going search for crude oil in the Chad Basin and other parts of the Inland Sedimentary Basin.
Niger State government had in a bid to join the oil-producing states in the country, reawakened efforts to give 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.
This, according to Vatsa, is a giant step that can step up the economic potential of the state and the country if included in the renewed search for hydrocarbon deposits.
It should be noted that a 24-man committee under the chairmanship of Gen. M.I Wushishi, called Gubernatorial Committee on the Development of Bida Basin (GCDBB) was on October, 15th, 2011 inaugurated with the mandate of establishing facts about the availability of oil and gas in Bida basin. Findings of the committee were positive.
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