This is a case of Other People's Money - OPM. Anyone is free to search for oil, gold or diamonds in the middle of the Pacific, Sahara or Arctic. The problem is using my money/our money on such Quixotic ventures.
Not only is the Federation Account stuffed full with "stolen" money expropriated from the Niger Delta, but to waste same on the self-serving search for oil in the North-East is the height of impunity. All other oil blocks/prospects are offered to willing takers for a price. If the oil majors and their growing band of Nigerian collaborators ASSESS a prospect, they stake a position and assume most if not all the risks. The irrational position of our northern brethren is that somehow a global conspiracy had been hatched to deny the existence of oil in Nigeria's north. Such infantile insinuation! If the global oil giants can hang on in other war torn parts of the globe, what makes the case of Nigeria any different? See what difficulties the Chinese are weathering in Sudan and South Sudan. What about Iraq?
The worst tragedy is that if petroleum is discovered in the north, the people will not in the next 30years have the necessary manpower to exploit it. It is one long sad tale. The end is nowhere in sight.
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