The Northern states can now heave a sigh of
relief as the quantity of oil deposits in the
Chad and Bida basins is said to be in
commercial quantity and can be equated to
the deposits in the South-South.
Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu also hinted
that the North is prospecting for crude oil.
He told the Economic Confidential that there is oil
in the Chad basin and the Bida basin in Niger State.
Aliyu said governors of the Northern region have
also started the process of prospecting for the oil
not only to shore up their fiscal position but also to
prepare the North against the continued threat of
oil domination from the south.
According to him: “We have not made any serious
effort to tap these resources. We in Niger State
have commissioned the Ibrahim Badamasi
Babangida University at Lapai to carry out a survey
of the Bida basin for the presence of oil and so far
the report we are getting is cheering.”
The governor, who is the chairman, Northern
Governors’ Forum, disclosed that the financial
situation in most states in the North is assuming a
precarious state.
He said that the situation has been compounded by
the introduction of a new minimum wage for
workers in all the states of the country irrespective
of the fact that they are in a federation and the
poor internally generated revenue base of most
states after the payment of salaries. The governor
regretted that most states have little resources to
fund projects.
“States have been looking for other sources of
funds to enable them meet their obligations,” he
said, adding that “some states have gone to the
capital market to get money to finance capital
projects dear to the people while others resort to
loans from commercial banks. This is why we have
been asking that the Revenue Allocation Formula
should be reviewed.
“As the case is now, there is too much money at
the centre so we need to change the position
because it is in the states and local government
areas that we have the people. I will still want the
revenue allocation formula to be reviewed if for
nothing it has outstayed its usefulness, especially
when it is the law that it should be reviewed every
10 years.”
On the recurrent communal clashes in the North,
Governor Aliyu said that initially they thought the
crises were religious before they realised other
dimensions to the violent.
He said: “At first we believed that it was religion
but with the dimension it has taken we need to
carry out a thorough investigation into those
behind these frequent attacks which have not only
turned the North Eastern part of the country to
ghost states and towns.
“One thing I know is that the communal clashes
and frequent bomb blasts portend great danger for
Nigeria as a country. Now you can see people
moving in large numbers from one part of the
country to the other this is not the type of country
we want.
“We want a country where people will live in peace
with one another irrespective of their place of birth
or religious beliefs.”
The governor bemoaned the neglect of agriculture
and industrialization by Nigerian elites and called
for dialogue to resolve the nation’s problems.

Nice. Let us all fight for 100% resource control.

I guess that now makes them Niger Delta too...



FREE Afam4eva (Igbo boys don die, we multiply)

Good for them

Now its the time for us to chop their own oil money. Find the oil quick abeg!

J12: Now its the time for us to chop their own oil money. Find the oil quick abeg!

Boko might delay the chopping