WITH the planned meeting of 13 northern states which fall under the region’s sedimentary basin, the North is set to start oil and gas exploration activities.

The Niger State Governor, who is also the Chairman of the Northern State Governors Forum, Aliyu Babangida, will on Monday declare the meeting of the Association of Petroleum Inland Basin States of Northern Nigeria open. This is according to a statement signed by Babangida’s Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo.

The statement said Aliyu had invited his counterparts whose states fall within the region’s sedimentary basin to direct their relevant commissioners to attend the meeting of the association in Minna.

The Inland Basin states comprise  Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Kogi, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto. Others are Zamfara, Kwara, Nasarawa, Taraba, Yobe and Plateau states. The meeting, Ndayebo added, would enable them to brainstorm on the modalities and action plan that would kick-start oil and gas exploration activities in the North.

“The meeting will fashion out strategies to harness the resources in Sokoto Basin, Chad Basin, Bida Basin and Benue trough whose hydrocarbon contents are yet to be properly developed and estimated,” he added.

The forum expressed support for the ongoing efforts by the Federal Government to explore oil in the sedimentary basin of Northern Nigeria.