With the discovery of oil deposits in the North, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has destroyed the politics of oil and gas, Engr Kailani Muhammad, Director Media and Publicity, Presidential Support Committee (PSC) on the President’s achievements in Kaduna, has said.
Last week, Buhari flagged off the first crude oil drilling project in Northern Nigeria, in the Upper Benue Trough’s Kolmani River field (Kolmani Oil Prospecting Lease 809 and 810) straddling Bauchi and Gombe states.
According to the president, it was to the credit of his government that at a time that financing of fossil fuel projects was drying up due to the energy transition drive, his administration was able to attract $3 billion to the sector.
Briefing journalists in Kaduna, Muhammad said the discovery will boost the capacity to transform Nigeria’s energy potentials and rank as one of the greatest global energy boardrooms.
We welcome the Kolmani oil field in northern Nigeria
Kolmani oil drill has attracted $3bn investments – Buhari
According to him, apart from the Gombe Bauchi discovery, there are other locations in the Northern part of the country with large deposits of hydrocarbons.
“We are happy that President Buhari has broken the jinx of Oil and Gas economy politics by dragging the net around the country in his efforts to beef up the nation’s treasury trajectory.
“The oil and gas discovered in Gombe and Bauchi cannot be consumed by the indigenes of the two states alone, but it is for the benefit of the entire nation” he said
Khailani further appealed to the President to ensure that exploration in new locations within the region begin before he exits office.
He also said the discovery of the oil deposits in the North will put an end to the much touted and misplaced propaganda that the North is dependent on the South for sustenance because of its oil deposits.