Effect of the latest oil finds in the North of Nigeria...By Mahmoon Baba-Ahmed.

Hope for discovery of oil in the North is like pursuing a delusive mirage. It had for long proved to be an unrealistic and impracticable feat, at least to those pessimists who never wish the region well. However, concerted efforts by those concerned to ensure it is found in appreciable quantity yielded satisfactory results in many parts of Northern Nigeria, especially around the productive river basins and the legendary Lake Chad area bordering neighboring countries who had already struck the ‘black gold’ and are now fully exploiting it.
These are not the only areas in the North endowed with oil riches. Similar finds have been recorded in the trough of River Benue, the Niger basin as well as in Gombe and Bauchi states. Recently oil has also been found in Kogi State, and Sokoto state is understood to be sitting on a large deposit of oil reserve. However, whenever it is reported that oil has been discovered in any part of the North, the news is greeted with cynicism by skeptics, while the authorities concerned will be totally indifferent, unbothered to authenticate the discovery or move to exploit the new found deposits. In the twilight of Governor Ibrahim Idris’ tenure, large quantity of oil deposit was realized in Kogi State and after bringing it to the notice of those saddled with the responsibility of utilizing it, and oil prospecting experts confirmed the veracity of the find, nothing was done to ensure it is drilled for the benefit of the nation.
Similarly, when Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako paid Sallah homage to the Sultan he dropped hint that oil has been detected in the Sokoto River basin, but it is a disheartening that despite wide publicity given to that disclosure by the press, neither government officials nor engineers of the prospecting firm uttered a word about that. To them that was a myth or idealized conception, which at best should be disregarded.
Even though the federal government was totally unemotional about oil discovery in certain areas of the North, yet President Goodluck Azikiwe Jonathan was ebullient with enthusiasm as he listed Anambra State as the tenth oil producing state in federation while commissioning a private refinery in the area recently. He announced that substantial deposit of oil, discovered in Oguleri Otu in Anambra East Local Government Area, influenced the siting of the refinery in the state.
Nevertheless, in a swift reaction, the neighboring Kogi State Government refuted claims of Anambra being the tenth oil producing state, and insisted that despite locating the refinery in Anambra State, the oil wells number OPL915 and 916 are undeniably situated in the hinterland of Kogi State. Nevertheless, it is puzzling how the Federal government remained quiet about the quantity and quality of oil deposit in Kogi State. Instead it pretended that it did even not exist. It is a well-known fact that oil find in the North has preceded that in any part of the Eastern states, but nobody cares a hoot about exploiting it, because it is located in the North which everyone in the South loves to hate. The controversial listing of Anambra State among the oil producing states in the federation ought to be reappraised thoughtfully and judiciously with a view to avert unwanted quarrel that may likely arise in the future between Kogi and Anambra states.
Nobody can precisely articulate the reasons behind the government’s hesitation or unwillingness in acknowledging the presence of oil in the North even after it had commissioned productive exploratory expeditions around Lake Chad basin. As a result of that the Northern Nigeria Development Corporation NNDC had been given franchise to acquire two blocks in the region, but it is yet to commence exploiting the oil wells. That may, however, not be difficult to comprehend. The multi-national corporations, which influence and direct the nation’s economic activities, are locked in unhealthy rivalry aimed at controlling the prospective oil fields in the North especially at the Lake Chad basin and the Komadugu-Yobe River which flows into it at the boundaries of Nigeria and Niger Republic. It was established that this nasty competition for the north-east oil by major foreign powers was responsible for the unrest that often devastate the area in the name of religion.
It is quite evident that Northern Nigeria is blessed with variety of mineral deposits including hydrocarbons from which petroleum products are derived, but these remained untapped deliberately, begrudging the northerners the chance to benefit immensely from the divine bequest. The North’s oil should not be a source of concern and difficulty for its citizen as it has been a curse instead of blessing to this nation. If President Jonathan is serious about directing his government toward increased prospecting of oil in the river basins at Nigeria’s borders, he should then be advised to start with areas with known oil reserves in the North. That will surely redress the matter of falsehood and the reality of oil find in the North once and for all.