The inaugural meeting of Governors of Association of Petroleum Inland Basin States of Northern Nigeria (APIBONN) is to hold today in Minna, Niger State, as a way to fast-track oil exploration along the inland basins in the north.

With the planned meeting of 14 northern states which fall under the region's sedimentary basin, the north is now showing more commitment to kickstart oil and gas exploration activities in the Inland Basins.

The host governor, who is also the chairman, Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF), Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, is expected to declare the meeting of the APIBONN open.

In a statement yesterday by the chief press secretary to Governor Aliyu, Danladi Ndayebo, and made available to LEADERSHIP, the governor, in his capacity as the chairman of the forum, invited his counterparts whose states fall within the region's sedimentary basin to direct their relevant commissioners to attend a meeting of the association in Minna.

The meeting, the statement added, was to enable them to brainstorm on the modalities and action plans for kick-starting and sustaining oil and gas exploration activities in the region.

Aliyu said that the meeting will "fashion out strategies to harness the resources in Sokoto basin, Chad basin, Bida basin and Benue trough whose hydrocarbon contents are yet to be properly developed and estimated."

He stated that the forum expressed support to the ongoing efforts by the federal government to explore oil in the sedimentary basin of Northern Nigeria.

The Inland Basin States comprise of Kwara, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Kogi, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto states, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Taraba, Yobe and Plateau states.