Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has said that the flag off for the construction of the permanent site of Bauchi Oil and Gas academy Alkaleri was conceived out of the desire to empower women and youths and develop vocational education.
Governor Mohammed stated this in Alkaleri, Alkaleri LGA of Bauchi State, during the Groundbreaking ceremony of Bauchi Oil and Gas Academy Alkaleri.
He said that the idea to establish the Bauchi Oil and Gas Academy, Alkaleri, was conceived in 2021 following the discovery of oil and gas in commercial quantities in the Kolmani area of Alkaleri and Gombe state by the NNPCL and its partners.
Governor Mohammed said that Bauchi state under his leadership cannot rely on federal allocations to develop the state, stressing that his administration is working hard to contribute to sources of revenue by developing oil and gas, solid minerals.
“We don’t want to be considered as parasites, we want to contribute to the sources of revenue that is why we are working hard to develop the oil and gas, solid minerals, and agriculture can move us out of the problem of excruciating pain before we pay salaries and do our programmes.
We believe in the Nigeria federation, we believe in the indivisibility of Nigeria and we want to bring something on board into the treasury of the federal government,
“The academy is therefore meant to provide the skilled manpower required to fast-track oil and gas exploration in the Kolmani oil field and other areas in the country.
It is also an indication of our unwavering commitment to impact vocational and technical skill to our teeming youth to make them more productive in line with the economic empowerment and skill development programme of our administration”
“As a state we are ready to partner with the federal government. I must acknowledge that this school that we are building today the Buhari administration approved N17 billion for us and Tinubu administration released N17 billion and it is out of it that we are using N6 billion to build the school” he said
Speaking earlier, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources in charge of Oil, Heineken Lokpobiri lauded Bauchi State Governor, Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, over the establishment of an oil and gas academy in the state.
The Minister noted that the establishment of the Academy was timely as it will provide the required manpower of not only the State but the country as a whole, stressing that it will provide employment opportunities.
“When I became minister my attention was drawn that the license for the Kolmani oil block has expired and the company couldn’t do anything, by one of your sons Bala Wunti who was the team lead of the Kolmani project.
“I consulted with Mr President and he gave an immediate order for me to renew all the licenses for the Kolmani project. That is to show that the President’s decision with energy security properly aligns with the vision of Governor Mohammed to develop the project in the Kolmani region.
“If you do exploration in the Kolmani region and you find major finds and you don’t have the manpower, Bauchi skilled labour that is needed to service the Kolmani project has provided strategic support to the Kolmani project.
Federal government will support your vision and align with you to ensure that we achved he objective of this project” he said
