Boko Haram stalls oil search in Chad Basin

GMD, NNPC, Mr. Andrew Yakubu

Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, on Wednesday lamented the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East zone of the country.

He said the activities of the sect had been preventing early completion of the process that would lead to oil exploration in the area.

Yakubu stated this when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) to defend the 2014 budget of the NNPC.

He regretted that the low oil exploration performance in the Chad Basin was as a result of the insurgencies in the zone.

He, however, said that there were seven other basins apart from the Chad that the NNPC was exploring.

He said, “What we did last year was to acquire the aero-magnetic data from the geometric survey department.  We have Yola, Bida, Sokoto, Dahomey and others.  The main focus now which was a result of an extensive geological study that was done a couple of years ago is on the Chad Basin.

“The data for the other basins had been acquired and as soon as we progress with the Chad Basin we will intensify efforts on others too.  The Chad Basin has 13 phases and we are now in phase six.”

Yakubu also added that the projection of a daily crude production of 2.44 million in 2014 was realistic, but expressed fears over the security challenges occasioned by pipeline breaches.

Meanwhile,  the Principal of the Federal Government College, Port Harcourt, Mrs. Magdalene Ogundu, has described the killing of over 43 pupils in Buni Yadi, Yobe State, as a display of cowardice by members of the Boko Haram sect.

Ogundu also said the action of the Islamic sect projected ignorance, wickedness and ungodliness, adding that only drug addicts who had lost their sense of control could embark on such mindless killings.

Speaking at a special prayer session organised in honour of the victims of the Buni Yadi attack at the school’s auditorium on Wednesday, Ogundu said the action of the insurgents would not deter the country from achieving its goals in the education sector