The House of Representatives will set up an ad hoc Committee to assess the commercial viability of oil and gas deposits in Kogi, Anambra and Enugu States for the purpose of increasing oil revenue across the country. Moving the motion at the plenary session on Thursday, March 9th 2017, Hon. Emmanuel M. Egwu (PDP: Kogi) argued that this would complement the efforts of the Federal Government in prospecting for oil deposits in various parts of the country with the hope of increasing domestic production.
Hon. Egwu explained that the Government had explored and determined the abundance of oil and gas deposits in commercial quantities in Anambra Basin, which cuts across Kogi, Anambra and Enugu States. However, he warned that the Federal Government’s failure to optimally explore these deposits, which had the potential to improve on the social and economic activities in the Basin, had caused a crisis across the borders of these States. Thus, an intervention by the Legislature was necessary.
In addition, Hon. Egwu recalled that the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Total Fina Elf and Agip Energy had dug 25 exploration wells in the said Basin between 1952 and 1986 but abandoned them due to government’s policy that the deposits were reserves.
