By Tayo Joseph, Lagos
The University of Maiduguri has defied incarceration of its lecturers that lasted over eight months by expressing willingness to align with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to resume oil exploration activities in the Chad Basin.
Leading the three lecturers and the Management team of the University on a visit to the NNPC, the University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibrahim Njodi,said the freed lecturers and the entire university community were ready to remobilize for oil exploration in the Chad Basin.
Professor Njodi said despite the harrowing experience of the adoptees in the captivity of the insurgents, the University of Maiduguri was focused on carrying through the exploration programmein the inland sedimentary basins.
The freed lecturers who accompanied the Vice-Chancellor are: Dr. Solomon Nehemiah Yusuf, Mr. Yusuf Ibrahim, both lecturers of the Geology Department of the university and Mr. Haruna Dashe, of the Works Department of the Ivory Tower.
The Vice-Chancellor said he regretted to announce the demise of one of the victims of the attack, Muhammed AlhajiKolo, who died as a result ofgun-shot wounds inflicted on him by the insurgents.
Professor Njodi expressed profound gratitude to the Management of NNPC led by Dr. Baru, saying the university community would not forget the supports the corporation extended to the families of the victims at their hours of need.
He sought more succor for the affected lectures, stressing that they passed through unimaginable trauma in the hands of their abductees.
Responding, Dr. Baru called for a minute silence for the soul of the victim who died from injuries he sustained during the attack, saying NNPC was totally in support of the university.
The NNPC GMD thanked the academics for their visit, saying NNPC was ready to mobilize to the Chad Basin for further exploration activities noting that the Corporation would work rigorously with the University and all relevant security agencies to fortify the environment for smooth exploration activities.
He remarked that it would be a great mark of honour to the departed for the Corporation and the University to resume exploration work in the basin.
The GMD stated that the corporation was convinced on the need to intensify exploration activities in the North given the need to boost the nation’s oil reserves in line with the aspiration of President Muhammadu Buhari for the oil and gas industry.
