The Group CEO Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari has announced that, the oil drilling campaign in Nasarawa state will commence from the 21st of March 2023.
Kyari made this known during a courtesy visit to the Governor of Nasarawa state, Engineer Abdullahi Sule in Lafia the state capital today.
This development is coming weeks after the host, Engineer Sule paid the NNPC leadership a call early in January, a move many described as a luring campaign for prospecting in his state.
Oil is a major source of revenue for Nigeria and Oil producing states are wealthier among their equals due to the derivation formula, royalties and taxes that will accrue on commercial activities in state.
The Governor of Niger state had just last week, made a similar appeal to the NNPC to redirect their beam light on the Bida basin as Crude oil is said to have been found in commercial quantities for over 15 years with no further action to make the most of it.
We will recall that towards the end of 2022, President Buhari commissioned the Golmani Oil fields in Bauchi state, a first for a northern state in Nigeria. This could perhaps be the major instigator for Governors pushing for NNPC’s attention to their state.
While some are concerned about prospecting, environmentalists are critical of these discoveries pointing at the harm to the ecology of host communities. Oil is what we make of it according development scientist as progressive nations have made the findings positive as against what obtains in most African nations.
