The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will commence the search of oil and gas in the Benue Trough as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikaniti Baru disclosed this while receiving a delegation from the Benue State Government who paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja. According to a statement by NNPC spokesman Garba Deen Muhammad, President Buhari’s directive was part of efforts to guarantee energy security of the country. Buhari had only recently issued the same directive to the NNPC to intensify crude oil exploration in the Chad basin. The Benue Trough covering Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba states, according to geological researchers, have similarities with some parts of the Niger Delta (as well as Chad/Borno, Niger, Sudan and Cameroun basins ) where oil and gas have been found in commercial quantities. Oil exploration activities had commenced at the Trough previously but halted for years
