Oil exploration in Nasarawa State: Open letter to Governor Sule

Your Excellency,

I wish to humbly make a suggestion regarding the oil and gas exploration in Nasarawa State and other northern states, where deposits have been prospected. This is against the backdrop of reports that the exploration activities have virtually come to a standstill.

If that is true, my humble suggestion is that all the northern states – Nasarawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Niger, Sokoto, Plateau, etc –  which are believed to have oil and gas deposits, should form a strong group or association.

The basic aim of the group, which may be called Prospective Northern Oil Producing States’ Association (P-PNOPS) or any suitable name, is to use it as a powerful tool to exert effective political pressure on the federal government to accelerate oil and gas exploration activities in the concerned northern states.

This is based on the apparent signs that the incumbent federal government is not as enthusiastic about oil exploration in the north as the Buhari administration, which deliberately made sure that a special fund (The Frontier Exploration Fund) was set aside, under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021, specifically intended for oil exploration activities in northern Nigeria and the Fund was actively and enthusiastically applied for the purpose.

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True, some corrupt elements within NNPC took advantage and made gross personal gains though. Nevertheless, the administration remained enthusiastic and focused on the matter till its last day in office.

Not to digress, it is pertinent to point out that, the proposed P-PNOPS would make the work of the Petroleum Technical and Advisory Committee, you recently set up,  easier as the issues at stake appear to have political undertones in addition to the technical and economic challenges.

I hasten to applaud and congratulate Your Excellency on that particular laudable initiative and suggest that all the other prospective northern oil-producing states should emulate Nasarawa State in that regard.

Ideally, to ensure synergy, coordinated, systematic, concerted and vigorous approach to oil and gas exploration activities in the North, the proposed P-PNOPS should have a secretariat and function as follows:

1. a) Exert political pressure on FGN to accelerate petroleum and gas exploration activities in the P-PNOPS member-states and any upcoming prospective oil/gas producing state(s) in northern Nigeria.
2. b) Aquire and exchange or share information among member-states on the petroleum exploration activities in each member-state with a view to utilising one another’s experience.
3. c) Propose ideas and strategies on how to accelerate the pace of petroleum and gas exploration activities in member states.
4. d) Arrange, coordinate and conduct regular periodic and emergency meetings (whenever necessary) of the governors of the P-PNOPS member-states as well as between the technical and advisory committees of the states.
5. e) Any other function that may enhance or quicken the pace of petroleum and gas exploration activities in member-states in particular and the North in general.

Ibrahim Ibrahim is a Fellow of the College of Oil and Gas Exploration Technology, Nigeria