SAN FRANCISCO, July 31, (THEWILL) – The Vice Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, UNIMAID, Prof. Ibrahim Njodi on Monday stated that the search for oil will continue in Lake Chad basin despite recent Boko Haram attack during which some staff of the university were killed with three others abducted by the terrorists.
He stated this when a delegation from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources led by NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer in charge of gas and power unit, Engr. Saidu Mohammed, visited him in Maiduguri.
Njodi told the delegation that although the entire university community was distraught by the cruel incident of July 25, 2017, the university cannot ‘’chicken out’’ from doing what it is supposed to do when eventually the NNPC re-organizes and return to exploration work in the area.
He described the cruel attack on the Frontier Exploration Services/Surface Geochemistry Sampling team comprising the NNPC, Consultants from UNIMAID, Consultants attached to the Integrated Data Services Limited, IDSL, a subsidiary of the NNPC and Civilian escort team, as an act of God.
The VC noted that the situation painful as it might appear must be seen as a necessary sacrifice for the development of the country.
Tracing the university’s partnership with the corporation to over 12 years ago when the NNPC teed-off exploration activities in the Chad Basin, he urged the NNPC to stand firm beside the University and the families of the bereaved and provide the much needed support to overcome the massive setback wrought by the insurgent attack.
In his remarks, Mohammed said as a responsible corporate entity the NNPC would do everything within its means to support the University and the families of the victims of the attack.
“We have been great partners with the University of Maiduguri for many years and certainly when losses like this happen and under this circumstance, we cannot abandon our partners to their fate,’’ he said.
Mohammed promised to return to the University after conferring with the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director of the NNPC.
Earlier, the high-powered delegation paid a similar visit to the Governor of Borno State at Government House Maiduguri where the deputy governor of the state, Alhaji Usman Durkwa, charged the NNPC not to allow the attack to dampen its morale in the quest for new oil finds in the region.
