Stakeholders in Bauchi and Gombe have passionately appealed to the federal government to hasten the commencement of full-scale lifting of crude oil from the Kolmani Integrated Oil discovered at Barambu village of Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi state.
The stakeholders are the Gombe state commissioners of Natural Resources and Energy and Solid Minerals, Alhaji Mohammed A. Bello and Alh. Sanusi Ahmed Pindiga, respectively.
They spoke separately, and they took cognisance of the fact that though solid minerals are under the exclusive list of the Federal Government, the Governors of the two black-gold-rich states of Bauchi and Gombe are doing their best to ensure that the company responsible for the development of the oil field returns to the project site to start drilling oil.
They recalled the recent visit of the Crude Oil Monitoring Committee of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), which raised their hopes of ending the delay in the actualisation of lifting crude oil from the Kolmani oil river commissioned over two years ago by the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the Gombe commissioner of Energy & Solid Minerals, Mohammed Bello Pindiga, the recent visit to the project site by the Starling Global Company, following which drilling machines and equipment were returned to the site, has raised their hopes for the commencement of oil drilling at Barambu.
Pindiga explained that building an academy where indigenous people can be trained in the skills needed by exploration companies has reached an advanced stage, with students already in classes to ensure the smooth takeoff of exploration activities.
Also, Mohammed Bello said Bauchi state Governor Bala Mohammed will sponsor some people living around Kolmani to learn the Chinese language in China so that they can work with Chinese firms in oil companies.
For his part, Pindiga said Governor Inuwa Yahaya has approved the construction of roads and provided all the needed infrastructure, which will improve the living conditions of the communities in the Kolmani area.
The two commissioners assured that they are working to establish a host community association so that States will have a say in the project according to the law through the association.
They also assured the continued holistic support of their State Governors to see the full actualisation of Kolmani Integrated Oil Field, including security, social amenities, and logistics.
Recall that more than two years after Kolmani Integrated Oil was inaugurated by former President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), in partnership with New Nigeria Development Company NNDC, drilled two oil blocks, OPL809 and OPL810.
NNPCL had engaged Sterling Global to continue with exploration, lifting crude oil and developing the Kolmani Oil Field.
During the RMAFCs visit, an engineer with Sterling Global, Abdulhamid Aminu, said the present efforts are being channelled to drilling two additional wells that would feed the already drilled PL809 and OPL810 before the lifting of crude oil from the site would commence.
When asked to give a probable timeline for the completion of the drilling of the two wells, Aminu said the two feeder wells should be ready by March of next year.
He said Sterling Global would recruit about 13 staff from the local communities as part of its corporate social responsibility.
Aminu also identified education and health as areas for other social responsibility projects for the residents of the host communities.
