OIL/GAS/DIESEL STRUGGLE FOR SPACE IN NIGERIA!

ZION B-BC   NEWSLETTER.   

(Looking at Nigeria and the World's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 10.NO 417. 8th AUGUST, 2021.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32).  PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

OIL/GAS/DIESEL STRUGGLE FOR SPACE IN NIGERIA!  

The coming on board in the next year of the US$12 billion dollars 650,000 barrels per day (bpd), of Dangote Integrated Refinery and Petrochemical Complex Lagos, would no doubt complement the dwindling fortunes of the Federal Government in the oil/gas sector, which had been badly affected by the effects of the Covid 19 Pandemic on international oil price which crashed to its lowest ebb in almost two years!

BUT should the citizens rejoice over this “industrial feat” when developed nations are moving speedily to embrace renewable energy through environmental-friendly and modern sources of wind turbine and solar photovoltaic (pv), cells which convert solar energy into electricity!

Are the adamant and stubborn oil prospectors of the Northern States elated when at any slight opportunity Niger Delta citizens always boasted of contributing the largest share to the nation’s foreign reserves and its resources to develop infrastructures in other parts of the country? 

And for all those claims, passionate northern leaders at the seat or corridors of power had been relentless with the obsession to continue the exploration of oil which was aggressively pursued in most Northern States throughout the 30-year military aberration in Nigeria with a view to confound those Southerners who believed that Niger Delta had monopoly of the God-given natural resource!

Some antagonists of the 1914 Amalgamation have claimed that the second coup-de-tat master-minded by the soldiers of the Northern extraction in July 1966, was a deliberate strategy to grab power at the centre with a view to elevate the region’s culture of civilization their region to a level which would be at par or very close to its Southern Siamese twin through massive oil exploration (if it were possible), in all Northern States!

It is a general belief that the CRUDE OIL endowment of the Southern States had in no small way contributed to its modern development – especially when the South-South indigenes kept drumming it down that they were “feeding the North with their oil money”!

Although it is a constitutional right through the Exclusive Legislative List that the Federal Government should control/disbursement of the proceeds from all Extraction/Exploration activities in any part of Nigeria (on-shore, off-shore), even when the bulk of crude oil is gotten in commercial quantity in the Niger Delta, was it not logical that the principle of derivation and resource control should have been applicable to the region? 

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S SUDDEN INVESTMENT IN DANGOTE’S REFINERY IS A SHOCKING SURPRISE!

AUGUST 4, 2021: (1) FEC approved $1.5 billion to rehabilitate Kaduna/Warri Refineries; (2)FG invests $2.76 billion in Dangote Refinery; (3) FG approves Acquisition of 20% minority stakes by NNPC in Dangote Petroleum and Petro-Chemical Refinery!  

NNPC Group Managing Director is already celebrating the Dangote debut as he claimed that with its 650,000 bpd and Nigeria’s 445,000 bdp combined refineries and other modular refineries, the nation would be at an advantage to supply petroleum products legitimately across Africa and other parts of the world!

The rational or wisdom behind the sudden FEC decisions which would still involve a lot of external borrowings at a time when the nation is neck deep in all manner budgetary debts is yet to be explained by government!

Historians were correct to have posited that Northern Nigeria since the geographical marriage still lagged behind in all areas of socio-economic developments because it focused more on Islamic rather than Western Education!

The jihad of the Fulani War in 1804 by Usman Dan Fodio, debuted the Sokoto Caliphate, North West, (1806-1906), and further heightened the resolve of the average Northerner to embrace Islamic studies,  capitalize in commercial activities including trade-by-barter with the neighboring countries of Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Niger not excluding North African countries of Sudan and Egypt in the Horn of Africa!

There was also the influence of Kanem and Bornu Empires of the North East (1810-1893), which encouraged trans-Saharan trade, firmly entrenched Islam and pilgrimages to Mecca were commonplace!

NATURAL MINERAL DEPOSITS FAVOR IGRs! 

BUT the good news is that outside of CRUDE OIL EXPLORATION all 36 States and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are divinely favored with various mineral deposits that can be commercially harnessed for Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs)! 

Nigerian geologists have confirmed discovery of over 40 types of mineral resources and that at least THREE solid mineral types ranging from: Iron Ore, Gypsum, Talc, Lead, Zinc, Bitumen, Coal, Bentonite, Barite, Marble, Gold, Silver, to OIL & GAS, Granite, Lithium, Gemstones, Iron, Ore, Lead, Salt Tin, Limestone etc, can be harnessed in each State!

HOWEVER the current Oil Producing States (2021), are only 9 out of 36 – Abia (South East), Akwa Ibom (South-South), Bayelsa (South South), Delta, (South South), Imo (South East), Lagos (South West), Edo (South South), Ondo (South West), Rivers (South South). However, 80% of the total crude oil produced among the nine identified States flow from South South’s Akwa Ibom, (31.4%); Bayelsa (18.07%) Delta (21.56%) and Rivers (21.43%)!

OIL EXPLORATIONS IN THE NORTHERN STATES!      

As far back as the early 1970s, Military Administrations had engaged in crude oil exploration and had claimed success in the 1990s but not until October 2019 that NNPC officially came out boldly to confirm the discovery of hydrocarbon deposits in Kolmani River II Well on the Upper Benue Trough,  Gongola Basin, North East, which was flagged off by President Muhammadu Buhari, on 2nd February, 2019! According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC),  was engaged in the computation of hydrocarbon volume  and would in due course commence the drilling of  additional dwells to determine full evaluation of the hydrocarbon volume in the Gogola Basin.The Federal Government-owned News Agency also disclosed that the Gongola Basin discovery would attract foreign investment, generate employment for the people to earn income and increase government revenues.  

NIGERIA DISCOVERS ONE BILLION BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL IN THE NORTH EAST ZONE!A new discovery of crude oil in the North East totaling about One Billion barrels was announced on 12th February, 2020, Minister of State for Petroleum, at the close of that year’s Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), held in Abuja, FCT.The Minister believed that with the evaluation of that kind of figure, the geological structure of the region portends that with more exploration a lot of oil still remained to be discovered in Nigeria. 

THE HEALTHY RIVALRY BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN NIGERIA TO INCREASE THE VOLUME OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS THROUGH THE CONSTRUCTION OF MORE REFINERIES IS AN ASSERTION THAT NIGERIANS WOULD HAVE TO LIVE WITH FOSSIL EMISSION/ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION FOR DECADES TO COME!

‘’The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it’’. (Prov 10:22)

Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to:  facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, 

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations.  

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08080243066. g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.