The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, has claimed that the North has enough oil that can end poverty in the country.
He said this when members of the House of Representatives from the North met leaders in the region to take a position on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which is set to be passed by the lawmakers.
The caucus has on Monday, commenced a two-day retreat on the bill, with the Sultan, the Chairman of Arewa Conservative Forum Audu Ogbeh; the governor of Nasarawa State, Abdulahi Sule; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Bello in attendance at the Zuma Resort in Niger State.
With the issue of exploration of oil in the North at the forefront, the Sultan called for more exploration of oil in the north stressing that there is enough oil in the North that can address poverty and unemployment in the country.
“We continue to talk about poverty, unemployment and the attendant insecurity while we are sitting on billions of barrels of Hydrocarbon from Sokoto Basin to Chad Basin, and from Gongola to Bida and Benue Trouh Basins untapped.
“We should have a PlB that will encourage massive hydrocarbon exploration in those Frontier Basins, a PlB that will attract foreign investors to bring their funds and deveIop the resources.”
In his remarks, Audu Ogbe urged the lawmakers to make sure they did not leave office broke.
He urged them to save while in office and invest the money in industrialisation and buying of houses.
“Let none of you leave the House broke,” the former Minister of Agriculture said to the lawmakers. Adding that if they should ignore the advice, they will be miserable for it.
“Develop a second address, a more permanent address, which you can hand over to your children,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the House is due to resume on Tuesday, and PIB could be on the agenda before they embark on annual recess.
