President-Elect, Buhari Promises To Deploy Enormous Resources To Resume Vigorous Search For Oil In Northern Nigeria

by Musa Abdullahi

Nigeria’s President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on Sunday said his administration will accord to priority to the task of resuming oil exploration in the Chad Basin and Boko Haram. Buhari added that he will focus on re-activating the Lake Chad in addition to deploying enormous resources to resume vigorous search for oil along the Chad Basin in parts of Borno State and other parts of the region.

He spoke while responding to requests by Governor Kashim Shettima, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Elkanemi and some elders of the state who visited him at his residence in Kaduna.

The President –elect said he was very much aware of the problems of the northeast and will not waste time in taking them up one after the other. He said his administration will enhance collaboration with governments of Chad, Niger and Cameroon to curtail the trans border movement of Boko Haram insurgents, cut supply of arms, cut recruitment and training of fresh recruits.

He said stability of the northeast is a vital project for his administration, noting that nothing can be achieved unless peace is restored to the troubled region.

Buhari also assured the delegation that the receding of Lake Chad will be addressed through the transfer of water from the Central African Republic to the lake to boost it commercial activities for fishing and irrigation farming.

He recalled that he once read a document raising fears about receding of the Lake Chad which he handed over to former President Olusegun Obasanjo but now that he would be coming as President, he will handle the matter.

The lake, according to him, has the potentials to create millions of jobs through irrigation and many other commercial uses it was associated with many years ago.