The Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] presidential hopeful in Nigeria, Mr. Atiku Abubakar, has said that crude oil discovery and exploration in North East Nigeria will revitalise the fortunes of that region of the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari had last Tuesday flagged off the Kolmani Integrated Development Project in the North East Nigeria, informing that exploration will start with a daily production of about 50,000 barrels of crude oil.
The President said already the oil exploration at the Kolmani River has already attracted over $3billion foreign direct investment and will boost Nigeria’s fortunes and earnings.
Commenting his Facebook page, Atiku who was a former vice president of Nigeria, said the discovery of crude oil and the exploration that will follow, is a healthy development that will go a long way in revitalising the fortunes of the Northeastern region of Nigeria.
Also Read: Nigeria’s 37bn Barrels Oil Reserve and the Prospects of Kolmani Crude Oil Chest
According to him, oil exploration in the northern region of the country “will create the opportunity for more investment in education with emphasis on skills training and entrepreneurship development, which in return, will further generate prosperity for our young people and guarantee a better future for the upcoming generation.
“However, this discovery is without prejudice to my focus on the diversification of our economy that will ensure multiple streams of revenues for the country,” he added.
The NNPC had in 2019 announced the discovery of crude oil in the Kolmani River region at the border community between Bauchi and Gombe states.
Further to this discovery, the newly promulgated Petroleum Industry Act [PIA] Section 9, established the Frontier Exploration Fund (FEF) with the allocation of 30% of the profit from NNPC’s upstream oil and gas contracts for the purpose of oil exploration in Kolmani as well as Anambra, Dahomey, Bida, Chad & Benue Trough.
The Kolmani Integrated Development Project is a fully integrated in-situ development project comprising upstream production, oil refining, power generation and fertilizer.
Also Read: The New Hopes From North East Nigeria Oil Exploration
President Buhari noted that the project is in a landlocked location, requiring huge capital, noting that the economics of the project is a challenging proposition. He assured however that he had instructed the NNPC to utilize and leverage their vast asset portfolio across all corridors of its operations to de-risk the project to attract the much-needed investment.
Investment of over $3billion to this project,” he said
He commended NNPCL and its partners for the successful discovery of oil and gas in the Kolmani River Field.
He listed the benefits of the project, including “but not limited to energy security, financial security as well as overall socio- economic development of the country.”
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