Enugu Begins Oil Production, Soon

Enugu State will soon join the league of oil producing
states in the country, the Chairman, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the
state, Mr. Cornel Onwubuya, has said.

Speaking at Umulokpa, the council headquarters when he
received members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Enugu state Council,
on inspection tour of projects being executed by his administration, the
chairman said that already, Orient Petroleum had started lifting crude oil from
one of the communities in the local government area, where oil was struck some
years ago.

While expressing happiness that the state in addition to oil
is blessed with other mineral resources, Onwubuya  said: “Oil was struck at Iga community in
Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, while a company called Orient Petroleum is at
the moment lifting crude oil from that community. So I want to say that Enugu
state will soon join the league of oil producing states in the country”.

He said that “available record shows that crude oil deposits
within the local government area will last for about one hundred years, while
natural gas also found in the area is estimated to last for 200 years”.

The council chairman, however, appealed to the Federal
Government to ensure that the people of Enugu state, especially Uzo-Uwani
people, benefit from the earnings accruing from the exploitation of crude oil
and gas deposits in the area, adding that the local government is blessed with
many mineral resources including silicon, a chemical substance used to
manufacture glass, bricks and parts of computers.

According to him, since his assumption of office 7 months
ago, his administration had embarked on construction of roads, renovation of
the main administrative block and legislative building; building of the
chairman’s lodge, a magistrates court and construction of a modern residence
for the head of personnel management.

Other projects include rural electrification, construction
and equipment of health centres and classroom blocks.

Earlier in his address, the state chairman of the NUJ, Louis
Ngozika Dilibe, praised the council boss for embarking on people-oriented
projects and urged him to assist the union in the on-going rehabilitation of
the NUJ press centre as well as sponsoring some of its members to this year’s
Pilgrimage to the holy land, Israel.