FG urged to explore oil and gas in Lake Chad basin

Prof. Abubakar Sambo, the Director-General, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), has advised the Federal Government to fully explore the oil and gas deposits in the Chad Basin.He gave the advice yesterday at the opening of the second summit on Energy and Sustainable Economic Growth, organised by the commission in Abuja.'People have been saying that it is out of politics that some people are calling for the exploration of oil in the Lake Chad Basin.'Now it is no more politics as some countries like Chad, Cameroon and Niger are now exploiting oil and gas in the Basin.'Niger for instance started oil and gas exploration in the Lake Chad Basin for over three years now,' he said.Sambo explained that Nigeria's oil might not last for 40 years more.'Hence, there is a need to start exploring oil in the Chad Basin in order to boost our reserves,' he said.Speaking on the energy summit, the director-general said that energy was essential for the socio-economic growth of all nations. He added that the energy supply in the country was inadequate for its economic activities.He, therefore, called for diversification of energy sources like biomass, renewable energy like solar, hydro, wind thermal or coal.Sambo listed measures put in place by the federal government to improve sustainable energy, which include increasing end-user energy efficiency, integration of energy efficiency in all sectors, environmental friendly energy conservation and efficiency.Also speaking, Prof. Ita Ewa, the Minister of Science and Technology, said that the summit was expected to assess the sustainability of the current status of Nigeria's energy sector, using indicators for sustainable energy development (ISED).He stressed the importance of adequate and affordable energy supply to economic development of any nation.The Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria, Anna Candida-Perez, described the summit as a right step in the right direction which would lead to economic development if policy makers could encourage research and development in Nigeria.' (NAN)
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