Deposits of crude oil have now been discovered in the Bida basin of Niger State in the north. This was revealed in Lagos by the director of Ibrahim Badamasi Babaginda University Research Centre, Lapai Professor Nuhu Obaje.
He said his centre has informed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Niger State Government about its finding. Obaje also said his centre has introduced a technology for quick crude oil discovery and drilling. He disclosed these facts at the Manufacturing and Equipment EXPO Nigeria 2017 held in Lagos.
“We have a technology that finds oil faster. We found crude oil at Bida Basin and we used our technology to locate more areas. We have communicated it to Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and the State Government. They will use our research and produce oil faster and in abundance."
"Already, the Niger State Governor, Bello Sani, has written to the presidency. We are aware that they have acted on it. The ball is in the NNPC’s court because we are waiting for them”, Obaje said.
Professor Obaje also spoke about the exploration of solid mineral deposits in Niger state and other parts of the country. “We are hoping that solid minerals and agriculture will complement crude oil as we are keying into the Federal Government’s policy of diversification”, Obaje said. Deputy Director of the centre, Dr Naomi Dadi-Mamud, said the centre was using oil and dead plants to generate bio-gas. “My research on bio gas renewable technology was to convert such invasive plants on water bodies, like water lilies, and turn it to something useful."
“We cut the water lilies and dry before we convert them to either cooking or chemistry gas. Soon, we will begin to bottle the biogas and sell it commercially. “Already, with a ton of water lilies, we produce 10,000 cubic meters of bio-gas daily and our goal in the future is to increase capacity." He said.