Why We Want NNPC To Begin Oil Exploitation In North - Gombe Governor

Governor Mohammed Yahaya of Gombe State wants the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources to begin oil and gas exploitation in the North, particularly in the Gongola Basin.

The issue was on the agenda during a meeting he held with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, on Friday.

He told State House Correspondents that oil exploitation could help create massive jobs and boost the economy of states in the North.

Yahaya explained, “With the discovery of oil and gas in Gombe and Bauchi states, and specifically, in the whole of Gongola Basin, we seek to get the support of the federal government, so the pressure will be mounted on the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation and the DPR for them to see to the fact that the exploration of oil and gas deposit that is available in Gombe and in fact the wider Gongola Basin, is encouraged so that economic activities will be triggered.

“Our people will have jobs and the Gombe will join the league of oil producing states.”

The governor praised Buhari for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic so far.

However, he added that another reason he visited was to seek help for the many persons displaced in the state by floods.

He gave details of his mission to the Villa, “My mission to Mr President is to one, show solidarity and compliments from the people of Gombe, especially from the way and manner he has been able to shoulder the big responsibility of managing this country, especially during the pandemic. We are even going out of the pandemic very soon.

“Just to congratulate and appreciative him for what he has been doing. It’s been quite long we met and I felt there is need for us to meet and talk.

“Secondly, Gombe has been shouldering responsibility as regards to IDPs and influx of people who because of the insurgency and displacement from the neighbouring states have relocated to Gombe.

“So, that puts a lot of stress on our resources both education, social and environmental and what have you. And as a result, we are having a lot of issues and we need to share and seek guidance from Mr President as to how to manage the issues around insecurity and the people who have been displaced.

“Thirdly, the issue of recent flood that have been affecting the whole country. Much as we don’t have rivers around Gombe but the flood around the river banks of Gongola, which is covering two of the local government areas has equally affected us and also resettlement of most of our people.

“But most importantly, because Gombe is situated between valley and because of poor planning and lack of proper environmental management, gullies all have developed.

“You might have seen in the last few weeks, the effect of gully erosion in Gombe state. So, erosion has really devastated the lives of our people and has really become a problem and there is need for us to seek support from the federal government.

“As at the moment, there are 200 active gullies in Gombe which has affected the lives and livelihoods of a lot our people. So, we brought that to the notice to Mr. President for him to see how best he could attend and render some help especially from the ministry of environment, and more importantly, through the federal government understanding with the World Bank via the water management and water shed project which Gombe has keyed in but is yet take off.

“Once we are able to get that, we hope our problem of gully erosion will be solved partially if not fully.”

The governor put the figure of the displaced at over 3,200 families.

Yahaya added, “Of recent, in two local governments we had about 3,200 families that have been dislocated. But we have been trying to provide alternatives.

“At the moment, we designing layouts from which we will relocate all settlements that are on flood planes and on gullies which are normally susceptible to floods.

“Those that have been displaced by insurgency have resettled amongst our people. As far as the issue of displaced persons are concerned, neighbouring Borno and Yobe, we have an arrangement for them to settle with our people, so we don’t have IDPS camps per say.

“So, the people have acclimatised and have gotten used to living with our people and they are doing very well.”