BY ABDULLAHI ISAH, MAIDUGURI
The Group Managing Director, GMD, of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has said that the Corporation has concluded arrangements to mobilize heavy and sophisticated equipment to resume the oil prospection in the Lake Chad Basin area of Borno state.
The GMD disclosed this on Monday when he led top management staff of NNPC on a courtesy call on Governor Kashim Shettima at the Government House, Maiduguri.
Dr. Baru, who was represented by the Chief Executive Officer, Gas and Power, Engineer Saidu Mohammed, said, the resumption which will be done in the next six months was based on the military’s assurance of adequate security, relative peace and the degrading of the Boko Haram sect in the north east sub -region.
He said that his team was in the state to sympathize with the people and government of the state who suffered devastating attacks and destruction by insurgents, and also to explore areas where NNPC will come in and assist as part of its corporate social responsibility.
He said “we are here in Borno to express our full alignment to the ongoing Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement process by government in all the liberated communities. Therefore, NNPC wants to seek where it can come in to assist, because, the rate of devastation is worrisome.
“We are also in the state to inform you that in the next 6 weeks, we are going to redeploy our team of experts back to Maiduguri to resume oil exploration with better technology in the Lake Chad Basin”, he added
“This is necessary with our renewed efforts in harnessing Oil, Gas and Power to increase the economy of the nation, in line with the agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari in job creation and economic diversification”, he further stressed.
Responding, Governor Shettima thanked the team for the visit, and NNPC’s resolve to resume oil exploration in the region.
He said his administration will partner with NNPC to actualize its mission, as according to him, the exploration when concluded will not only generate revenue, but create employment opportunities for the people across the country, particularly, the north east region.
He therefore appealed to NNPC to assist the state government in reconstructing and rebuilding thousands of schools and furniture destroyed by insurgents, stressing that the education sector remains the only means of fighting poverty that is associated with the emergence of boko haram.
While at the Palace of the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garbai El- Kanemi, the Monarch equally solicited the support of NNPC in the ongoing reconstruction and resettlement of millions of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs back to their liberated communities.
