Oil exploration to start in Borno, says VP Sambo

Nigeria’s Vice President Namadi Sambo said Saturday that prospects for the improvement of the welfare of Nigerians living in Borno state, the epicentre of Boko Haram insurgency, are bright, with the discovery of oil in the area and the plan to begin exploration soon.
“I am happy to inform you that three oil blocks have been identified and I believe that by the end of this year or first quarter of next year, there is going to be oil exploration in Borno.”
Sambo spoke during a visit to the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai.
Sambo also announced government’s readiness to observe the ceasefire declared by Boko Haram.
“we welcome the ceasefire offer announced recently by the Boko Haram group and we will do everything as a government to see that we achieve a lasting peace in Nigeria,” he said.
According to Sambo, The Federal Government budgeted 100 million dollars for oil search in the Lake Chad Basin this year, while $75 million was spent last year. He said the action was aimed at preparing ground for the commencement of full commercial oil exploration in the basin.
“I want to inform you that government is committed to the oil and gas search in the Lake Chad basin.
Sambo said that government believed that commercial oil exploration would begin in the area at the beginning of 2014.
“Our plan is that by the fourth quarter of 2013, or first quarter of 2014, commercial oil and gas exploration will commence in the basin,’’ he said.
He said that government was also working towards rejuvenating the Lake Chad, to reactivate agricultural activities in the area. “We are working on plans to rejuvenate the Lake Chad through an inter-basin water transfer from Congo Democratic Republic. President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the release of five million dollars for the consultancy work on the project,’’ he said.
In his speech, Ibn Garbai appealed to the Federal Government to hasten oil exploration activities in the Lake Chad basin.
“I want to appeal to government to pursue oil exploration in the Lake Chad basin with vigour because commercial oil exploration will provide jobs for our teeming unemployed youths. I believe the place contains large quantity of oil because of a similar discovery by our neighbours on the other side of the basin,’’ he said.
Ibn Garbai also urged government to relax the current 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in the state following the improved security situation in the city.
Since 2009, violence linked to Boko Haram’s insurgency has claimed some 3,000 lives, including killings by the security forces.
A recent ceasefire proposal, made by a man claiming to represent Boko Haram, received a lukewarm reception in Nigeria.
Although the army welcomed the offer by Sheikh Muhammed Abdulazeez Ibn Idriss, he may be an impostor, and violence has not ended since his announcement.
On Friday, the Nigerian army also declared that it had killed 17 Islamists in raids that destroyed two Boko Haram camps in the state of Borno, where Maiduguri is the capital.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has been criticised for not visiting Borno, one of the main targets of Boko Haram attacks, since he took office in May 2010.
Sambo’s visit is also the first by a vice president since the rebel group resumed its insurgency in 2009.
Nigeria’s riches are mainly concentrated in the southern Niger Delta, where the oil is produced, and in Lagos, the country’s economic capital. The rise of Islamist extremism is widely blamed on poverty in the north.
.Story updated Sunday 3 February at 10.12 a.m