The vice-chancellor of University of Maiduguri’ Prof Ibrahim Njodi on Monday said that last weeks attack by the Boko Haram insurgents on oil explorers which included staff of the University will stop federal governments ongoing efforts to prospect for oil in the Chad Basin.
Speaking when a delegation from the corporation and ministry of petroleum resources visited him in Maiduguri over the weekend, Njodi said the university is not deterred.
He told the delegation that though the university community is distraught by the incident, the institution cannot “chicken out” from doing what it is supposed to do.
He said the university would continue with the task when eventually the NNPC re-organises and returns to exploration work in the area.
Tracing the university’s partnership with the corporation to 12 years back when the NNPC teed-off exploration activities in the Chad basin, the VC described the attack as an act of God.
He said though the situation is a painful one, it must be seen as a necessary sacrifice for the development of the country.
NJodi called on the NNPC to stand firm beside the university and the families of the bereaved as well as provide “the much-needed support to overcome the massive setback brought by the insurgent attack.”
Responding, Saidu Mohammed, an NNPC official who led the delegation, said the corporation would do “everything within its means” to support the university and the families of the victims of the attack.
“We have been great partners with the University of Maiduguri for many years and certainly when losses like this happen and under this circumstance, we cannot abandon our partners to their fate,” he said.
With NAN reports