ALLAFRICA.COM
DAILY TRUST [08/03/13]
By Hamza Idris And Abdulkadir Badsha Mukhtar
Damaturu — Elder statesman and former minister of finance Malam Adamu Ciroma has observed that five years ago nobody would have believed that Yobe State will be faced with grievous calamity occasioned by the Boko Haram crisis.
Speaking at a town hall meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan in Damaturu yesterday, Ciroma attributed the problem to the neglect of agriculture, health, education as well as the lackluster attitude of the Federal Government towards oil exploration in the Chad Basin.
Speaking later in a BBC Hausa interview, Ciroma insisted that granting amnesty to Boko Haram sect will help end the violence in the North.
He said each state governor should try to reach out to Boko Haram members as a way of fostering peace.
For his part, House of Representatives member Hassan El-Badawi accused the NNPC of foot dragging in oil exploration in the Chad Basin for over 25 years while neighboring countries like Chad, Niger and Cameroon carried out feasibility studies and began exploration within few years.
Responding at the town hall meeting, President Jonathan said N16 billion has been voted in the 2013 budget to encourage inland sedimentary basin exploration.
"But ordinarily, seismic exploration is not done by governments. Governments don't spend money because it is done by the companies. Even when oil was discovered in the Niger Delta, the federal government didn't know what was happening, it was Shell and others," he said.
"But because we have oil already, most of the oil companies are looking for wells that are already viable and in that case, if the federal government did not encourage surveys, the multinational companies will not do it because they know they will get oil somewhere and will be asking why should they waste their money. This is why government will continue to fund it."
Speaking at a town hall meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan in Damaturu yesterday, Ciroma attributed the problem to the neglect of agriculture, health, education as well as the lackluster attitude of the Federal Government towards oil exploration in the Chad Basin.
Speaking later in a BBC Hausa interview, Ciroma insisted that granting amnesty to Boko Haram sect will help end the violence in the North.
He said each state governor should try to reach out to Boko Haram members as a way of fostering peace.
For his part, House of Representatives member Hassan El-Badawi accused the NNPC of foot dragging in oil exploration in the Chad Basin for over 25 years while neighboring countries like Chad, Niger and Cameroon carried out feasibility studies and began exploration within few years.
Responding at the town hall meeting, President Jonathan said N16 billion has been voted in the 2013 budget to encourage inland sedimentary basin exploration.
"But ordinarily, seismic exploration is not done by governments. Governments don't spend money because it is done by the companies. Even when oil was discovered in the Niger Delta, the federal government didn't know what was happening, it was Shell and others," he said.
"But because we have oil already, most of the oil companies are looking for wells that are already viable and in that case, if the federal government did not encourage surveys, the multinational companies will not do it because they know they will get oil somewhere and will be asking why should they waste their money. This is why government will continue to fund it."
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