NIGERIA OIL BELONG TO THE NORTH – BUGAJE CLAIMS
Dr. Usman Bugaje, one of the key
speakers at the Northern Leaders’ Conference, has issued a controversial
statement on the possession of Nigeria’s crude oil. Bugaje stated that
it is wrong for any Nigerian state to that it produces oil because 72%
of the total land mass in the country belonged to the North. According
to him, it is only the North that really has the right to
claim possession of crude oil. He
restated that “there are no oil producing states as the only oil
producing state is the Nigerian state itself.”
“Whatever mileage you get in the sea,
according to the United Nations Law of the sea, is a measure of the land
mass that you have; that is what gives you the mileage into the sea…and
the land mass of this country, that gives that long 200 nautical miles
or more into the ocean, is because of that 72% of the land mass of this
country, which is the North.”
To confirm his argument, Bugaje also
said: “The investment came from the Nigerian state and the territory
belongs to the Nigerian state.”
“What they claim is the off shore oil is
actually the oil of the North. We should stop using these terms that
have no sense at all. There are no oil producing states.” The video was
filmed on March 11 during Northern Leaders’ Conference, but the
controversy remains till date.
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