Buhari meets northern govs over oil search, insurgency

Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto, on Monday met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the possible exploration of crude oil in his state.

Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Tambuwal said the “abundant” oil in the Sokoto basin would enhance electricity supply.

The governor said if the crude is explored, there would no longer be need for the construction of pipelines from the south-south to the north.

“If you remember very well recently, I was personally at the NNPC towers where we engaged the GMD of the NNPC on possible oil exploration in the Sokoto basin and I have had cause to brief the president on that particular interaction,” Tambuwal said.

“There is a need for the federal government to continue to support that endeavour which I believe will help in more provision of oil and gas which we believe is very much in abundance in this basin but also in bringing about agricultural revolution in that area.

“If you have gas, it will support the power supply which will, in turn, enhance and influence agro-allied industries that are likely to come on board and also have a positive impact economically on the lives and well- being of the people that are along the basin. These are some of the issues we discussed with Mr President.

“It has always been there since 1957 when the first attempt was made but with the discovery of oil in the Delta which we believe, from the information we have, is easier to exploit, there was a shift in focus to that of Niger Delta. We believe particularly the issue of gas, we need it for our local consumption, we have the conviction that what we have in that area is more than sufficient for an upward of 20 to 30 years of use by the people of the area.

“If explored, we don’t have to make pipelines from the Delta region up north to north-west states of Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina, if you do that you will ease the problem of evacuation and transportation or piping as it were of gas and petroleum products. So it’s a way of providing cheaper services to  the people.”

Also speaking with journalists, Ibrahim Geidam, governor of Yobe, said the state has so far spent about N30 billion on the insurgency.

He said he was at the villa to seek federal government’s support in the reconstruction of his state that had been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgents.

“Well, we have not received a kobo in terms of cash but in terms of materials, food and non-food items, we have been receiving a lot which I can not tell you precisely in a quantified form here, we have received enough,” he said.

“But during the last administration, Yobe state took care of the Joint Task Force which is a combination of the military, the SSS, the Police, the mobile police who were carrying out the war against the insurgency. We even paid their allowances, all their logistical needs including patrol vehicles.

“We have spent quite a substantial amount of money in that direction up to about N13 billion during the time of insurgency and we have submitted to the federal government if they could refund even 30 percent of that so that we can deploy it in the establishment of some infrastructure like hospital.

“Recently, we awarded the construction of cargo airport, if we can get a portion of that money, it will go a long way in relieving some of our problems.”