I SUPPORT THE SENATE BILL TO EXPLORE OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION POTENTIALS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA..THE MORE OIL THE LESS POWER CONCENTRATION, THE MERRIER FOR ALL NIGERIANS Senate And Search For Oil In The North Last week, the Nigerian Senate backed a bill for #oil #exploration in the #ChadBasin and #BenueTrough in northern #Nigeria. JONATHAN NDA-ISAIAH writes on the political and economic implications of this. Crude oil is regarded as the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. Oil is said to be a blessing and curse to Nigeria as the discovery of oil made the country to neglect other sectors of the economy. Before oil was discovered in the country, most of the regions had survived on what they could produce; they depended on their primary produce to survive. For her survival, the North relied primarily on agriculture. The groundnut pyramids in Kano were the cornerstone of Northern Nigeria’s economy; the pride of the north. The proceeds from the sale of groundnuts were used to build infrastructures in the region and, as a result, the economy of the region was stable. However, the discovery of oil relegated the groundnut pyramids to the background. Many political analysts are of the view that oil has been a curse to the nation, as other sectors which would have developed the country and made the economy of the country more diverse were neglected. Oil is said to also have increased corruption, as it is an avenue for more money and promotion of corrupt tendencies. In the Niger Delta region where the country’s oil resource is found, farmlands, water resources and vegetation have been utterly destroyed, due to oil spills. It will be recalled that during the late President Yar’ Adua’s administration, militants from the region took up arms demanding their own share of the national cake; they introduced the infamous art of kidnapping which, invariably, spread to the South East and other parts of the country. Besides, leaders from the region also went ahead to demand 13 per cent derivation from the oil wealth. Different agencies were created by successive regimes to pacify the region, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, etc. A deal was struck with the region and the result was increased oil theft. According to a report which emanated from the Senate, Nigeria loses 400,000 barrels of crude daily to thieves, pipeline vandalism and related criminal vices in the country’s oil sector. “Oil theft came into prominence in 2012, with a daily loss of about 150,000 barrels per day (bpd). By July 2013, the loss had risen to about 400,000bdp. Government needs to take some drastic steps to halt this development,” the Senate report read. Also, the Federal Government recently revealed that the country is losing N1.5b daily to oil thefts. The Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which has passed second reading at the Senate is also expected to lay a solid foundation for regulatory, structural, commercial and fiscal framework for the operations of the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, as well as drive broader reforms in the sector. Majority of Senators from the north were against the PIB bill, saying it was designed to favour the Niger Delta region. LEADERSHIP understands that a deal was struck with northern senators that a bill for the establishment of an agency to explore for oil in the north would be passed by the Senate. During the inauguration of the PIB joint committee Senate President David Mark, said: “We also want to explore oil in some other parts of the country and not only in the Niger Delta as we are doing now”. In the light of this, the Senate unanimously backed a bill which will provide for the establishment of a stand-alone agency to explore new hydrocarbon deposits (oil and gas finds) in the Benue Trough and the Chad Basin in northern Nigeria sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi/PDP), who is the vice chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum. According to Adeyemi; “It is imperative to continue to search for more oil and gas to add to our reserves, if we are to maintain our lead as a major producer of oil in the world.” Adeyemi opined that with oil exploration in the north and towards the South-east, the attendant economic activities that would arise would check the high level of poverty in the region. He told lawmakers that the agency will function to regulate exploration activities in all unassigned frontier acreages in Nigeria (Anambra, Benue Trough, Bida, Chad, Dahomey and Sokoto Basins) held by the agency. “The Agency shall be expected to generate exploration data on the frontiers basins and mature them for detailed exploration by itself on behalf of government and/or by multinational and indigenous operating companies,” Adeyemi said. He added that the idea is to look beyond the prolific Niger Delta basin with good sedimentation and robust tectonic history such as the Anambra, Benin, Benue, Chad, Bida, Dahomey, Gongola, Sokoto and such other basins as may be determined in the future. It is instructive to note that oil finds have since been made in the Gongola Basin of the Upper Benue Trough and in the Anambra Basin, amongst others. “I profoundly believe that if oil could be found in Niger Republic and Ghana, it is possible that we can discover oil in the north. This venture would also present an equal opportunity for all parts of the country to contribute revenue from oil to the national coffers,”Adeyemi said. The proposed exploration agency, Adeyemi said, would work to guarantee many sources of crude oil from different parts of the country. Contributing to the debate, Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba (Cross River/PDP) noted that it makes no common or geographical sense that there is oil in Niger and Chad republics and none in northern Nigeria. “Perhaps, we have not been zealous enough in our exploration of oil in these geographical basins. We need to create an agency that will force the hands of the operators to explore oil in the frontier basin,” Ndoma-Egba said. Similarly, Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe/APC) said: “We need to make this project a special one. We are on the right course. I want to emphasise that we need a stand-alone agency. We should work to ensure that this agency functions as an independent agency.” Senator Magnus Abe (representing Rivers/ PDP) cautioned against politicising the programme, but that all should focus on the benefits of a find. He added that the primary mandate of the proposed agency should be to expand the country’s economic reserves and not to satisfy the politics of ‘northern oil’. Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi (Ekiti/APC) pointed out that “this Bill has helped call the attention to the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which has remained pending. The issue of frontier exploration is a component of the PIB but here we are giving attention to it. We should extend the same action to the PIB by getting the joint committee on the bill to hasten the process”. Searching for oil in the north may be a political victory and may add more money to the economy of the north but may not be the best option in the long-run. People from the Niger Delta region often view northerners as parasites who feed off their oil money and with oil in the north that notion will be discarded. According to a recent editorial in LEADERSHIP, the annual World Energy Output report just released by the International Energy Agency says there will be a major shift in global energy demand from North America and Europe to China, India and South-East Asia and that the United States will become the largest producer of crude oil by 2015, due to its exploitation of shale rock. It will, therefore, become self-sufficient. The role of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, is certain to diminish and the future of oil remains bleak in Nigeria. The North may as well, with oil in the region, diversify its economy and go back to its first love – agriculture – as the combination of both will lead to a better region and country.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 13:22:09 +0000
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