The establishment of an agency to take charge of exploration and discovery of oil in other parts of the country other than the Niger Delta region is the only solution to the lack of seriousness attached to it by successive governments in Nigeria Senator Smart Adeyemi has said.
Adeyemi is currently sponsoring a bill seeking to establish the National Frontiers Basin Exploration Agency to execute, promote and oversee exploration activities in the inland sedimentary basins which include the Anambra, Bida, Sokoto, Chad and Dahomey Basins. Also included is the Benue Trough, made up of the Lower, Middle and Upper Benue Troughs.
Speaking in Abuja yesterday Adeyemi who represents Kogi West in the senate argued that oil would have since been discussed in northern Nigeria but for the non-existence of a body that will solely be responsible for oil exploration in new frontiers.
Adeyemi who is also the chairman of the Senate committee on the Federal Capital Territory maintained that, “these Basins have structural and strata-graphical similarities with contiguous intracratonic rifted basins of Niger Republic, Chad Republic and Sudan where commercial oil accumulations have been discovered.”
“I profoundly believe that if oil could be found in Niger Republic and Ghana, it is possible that we can discover oil in Northern Nigeria. This venture would also present an equal opportunity for all parts of the Country to contribute revenue from Oil, to the National coffers,” he explained.
Adeyemi also countered insinuations that establishing such an agency will amount to wild goose chase saying, “NNPC remains hopeful of hitting oil in these basins. This is hinged on its belief that available new technologies would yield results where previous exploratory efforts have failed.”
He said oil discoveries in commercial quantities in basins located in countries like Chad, Niger republic and Sudan, with similar geological formations, have continued to make the NNPC hopeful.
Discoveries made in Doba, Doseo, and Bongor in Chad all have the potential of over 2 billion barrels, oil reserve, and Termit-Agadem Basin in Niger republic has the potential to hold over 1 billion bbls of oil reserve.
The bill has since passed second reading in the Senate and is awaiting a public hearing before the Senate committee on Petroleum resources upstream.
