02-01-01 Desirous of joining the prestigious league of oil producing states and to enjoy the juicy 13 % derivation, the Nigerian Ebonyi State government is pushing for the Federal Government and the NNPC verification of historical evidence of the presence of crude oil and bitumen deposits in the state. Specifically, the state said there is historical evidence of seismic and exploratory activities which have shown that crude oil was discovered in Afikpo South Local Government then under Ogoja province during the colonial rule in Nigeria.
The state Commissioner for Information, Mr. John Otu said verification of the claim is very imperative now that the state created in 1996 is craving for economic development.

One of the evidence was contained in a letter signed by Mr. L.M. Henderson Scott, Principal Mineral Resources department in the colonial days reference 523/51 and dated October 26, 1928 in which it was confirmed that crude oil sample free from sediment and water was discovered in the area believed to be around Afikpo in the Southern part of Nigeria. Also, the report of laboratory tests carried out by Imperial Institute London as well as the one reference Imperial Institute report No. 3417 dated July 1928 gave the quality of crude oil to include, low boiling, volatile hydrocarbons with high flash-point.
The report, which was obtained from the National Archives, Otu said was evident enough that the Federal Government as a matter of urgency should direct the state-run NNPC through its Frontier Exploration Service (FES) to commence both seismic and exploratory drilling to confirm the aforementioned claim.
The commissioner stated that Ebonyi State would have done it but since such resources are invested in the hands of the Federal Government by law, it becomes necessary for them to verify this, and allow private oil prospecting companies to start exploring the resources for the benefit of the state and the country as a whole. According to him, a lot of work and resources have been committedin Chad basin where there was no any historical evidence of such deposit, pointing out further that it is very necessary for the Federal Government to open the gate in Ebonyi State.
Apart from crude oil, Otu said the state ranked first among the states blessed with abundant deposits of bitumen as well as salt in Uburu village of the state. According to him, the state government had already presented a special report on the issue of crude oil discovery to President Olusegun Obasanjo while efforts are also being made to reach out to other petroleum industry agencies such as NNPC, Department of the Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Otu also stated that the senate committee on solid minerals has visited the bitumen deposit sites in the state which contained high quality alluvial deposit which makes the state a potential oil and bitumen territory. The state Information Commissioner stated that if the Federal Government acted fast on its request, then the state government through its economic development strategy will woo foreign investors for the purpose of exploiting these resources.
"Ebonyi State is very much eager to develop all the resources in its land and that is why we want the Federal Government to verify this claim, so that foreign investors can develop the resources," Otu stated. The state, according to geologists, is located within Enugu basin, where the concessions are said to have been awarded to some multinational oil companies.
It was also discovered that in some of the wells drilled so far, indications of hydrocarbon reserves have been proved but it is not clear where the fields have not been developed. A geophysicist with a French oil giant, said, there is history of gas discovery in the area but cost of laying pipeline facilities to harness this resources has pushed the operators away. The industry operator also explained that at the time this discovery was made, government has not given greater attention to gas development as it is in the country today.