Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state has promised that his administration is committed to making the state an oil producing state.
The governor said despite the fact that the state lost a $16 billion Dangote refinery to Lagos state, there are still a lot of ways to take advantage of the rich oil deposit in the state.
Abiodun made this known while speaking during a Convocation Lecture at the the 2nd and 3rd convocation ceremony of the Mountain Top University with the topic, ‘Quest for Excellence: The Nexus of Faith, Knowledge and Resilience’.
The governor narrated how a disagreement between former governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun and Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, cost the state the $16 billion Dangote refinery.
Amid huge environmental and eviction concerns, the Dangote Refinery which is still under construction in Lekki area of Lagos state has the capacity to become one of the largest refinery in the world as it can process about 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
According to him, despite losing out on the massive deal, his administration will work towards ensuring that the state becomes an oil producing state.
In his words, “I worked as chairman of Olokola Free Trade Zone that was meant to have the Dangote refinery cited in Ogun Waterside, however, discussion broke down between Dangote and the then administration which led to the loss of that project to Lagos State; a $16 billion refinery was lost to another state.
“That project was conceived with the aim of not just refining petroleum in Ogun, but also take advantage of the mining lease that had been awarded around that corridor that has even not begun to be exploited.
“We are working assiduously on that, so, I accept this challenge, we will further strengthen our resolve to ensure that we bring Ogun State to oil producing status in the very near future.
“Ogun state is situated in the Dahomey Basin, which stands for the Niger Delta that goes all the way to Ghana.
“Everyone of the states in that corridor are oil producing today, even Ondo and Lagos states.”
The New Diplomat reports that Ogun State has massive hydrocarbon deposit in Tongeji Island located in Dahomey Basin. Tongeji is an oil-rich Island in Ipokia Local Council Area of Ogun State. The Island that is five minutes away from Port Novo in Benin Republic by boat and 50 minutes to Badagry in Lagos is closer to the Republic of Benin than Nigeria, at least by proximity.
