Nigeria House of Reps members to oversight of oil exploration in North east

The Nigerian House of Representatives will soon begin the inspection of on-going oil exploration in the North eastern part of the country.The Deputy Chairman House Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Danlami Moh’d Kurfi stated this in an interview with Voice of Nigeria, in Abuja.He said the inspection which is part of the committee’s oversight functions will give the lawmakers the opportunity to contribute to the diversification policy, in line with government’s change agenda.” The NNPC has located where the product is; it is under Bauchi State and they have already started the exploration. The work has gone far. Soon we will inspect the area,” Kurfi added.The lawmaker also expressed the National Assembly’s resolve to provide all legislative support for the realization of the project, aimed at boosting the country’s revenue base.The oil exploration in the prospective areas of Bauchi, Gombe and Borno States would explore the abundant natural resources with a view to improving the nation’s economy and that of the North East region.The Presidency in August this year, ordered the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC to commence the search for crude oil and other hydrocarbon exploratory activities in the Benue Trough.A few days before then, government directed the NNPC to intensify crude oil exploration in the Chad Basin.The Benue Trough is a major geological formation underlying a large part of Nigeria, extending about 1,000 kilometre North-east from the Bight of Benin to Lake Chad. It is part of the broader Central African Rift System.