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A Chinese firm is to invest in oil exploration in the Bida basin of Niger state Governor Babangida Aliyu disclosed in Minna on Tuesday.
Governor Aliyu said the unnamed firm offered to contribute 50% of the cost while the Niger state government will foot the remaining bill.
The Governor did not state the total cost of the project and when it will start but restated that both the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai which was commissioned to carryout research into the presence of hydro carbon in the Bida basin and the Chinese firm have confirmed the presence of the commodity in commercial quantity in the area.
“What is holding the Chinese firm back from immediate commencement of work is the plan to ensure the whole basin is covered by the time the exercise commence the governor declared.”
Governor Aliyu made these known when he received members of the National Defence College course 23 led by the Provost of the Centre for Strategic Studies of the College Dr Istafanus Zabadi in government house.
He was of the opinion that when exploration commenced the state will witness rapid industrial development while the people will reap the benefits of being an oil producing state.
Commenting on the development the state has witnessed over the last couple of years, Dr Aliyu attributed it to the introduction of the Ward Development Project a concept that has made the communities in the rural areas in the 274 wards of the state to execute projects that touch the lives of the ordinary person.
“I am happy we brought this dimension to governance where people can own projects.”
He said the urban renewal programme of the administration has been bought by the people because the government usually carried them along before taking any decision that will affect their lives and way of living.
He said the urban renewal programme of the administration has been bought by the people because the government usually carried them along before taking any decision that will affect their lives and way of living.
Aliyu assured that the various housing estates being developed across the state will be completed and inaugurated before the end of the mandate of the government insisting that the project in Suleja will be commissioned by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation Dr Istafanus Zabadi had commended the transformational drive of the state under the present administration and singled out the development of the 3-arms zone the Minna city centre and construction of the Minna tower as projects that will outlive the administration.
Dr Zabadi also commended the peace prevailing in the state and urged other state governors to copy from Niger state.
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