We won’t allow ceding Ogun oil-rich Island to Benin Republic – Senate panel

The Senate Committee on Navy said it will come up with a plan to resist the takeover of oil-rich Tongeji Island in Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State by the Benin Republic and its foreign allies.

Oil was first discovered on Tongeji Island in 2008. An oil firm, Gasoline Integrated International, in an expression of interest, planned to build a $3 billion refinery on Tongeji Island.

Speaking at the end of a facility tour of the Western Naval Command in Lagos, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Navy, Senator Gbenga Daniel, expressed concern over the abandonment of Tongeji Island.

He said the federal government cannot afford to lose the island just like it did with the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon.

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Daniel said his committee would strategise on what to do to ensure that Nigeria did not lose Tongeji.

“We are currently strategizing on what we need to do as a government so that we don’t lose Tongeji just like we ceded certain areas in Calabar to Cameroon.

“We are working on that but we will not disclose our strategies because these are security matters,” he said.