The Gombe State Governor, Inuwa Yahaya, on Tuesday decried the denigration of Northern Nigeria by some people despite the region’s abundant mineral resources.

The governor, who addressed journalists during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Gombe State government and Rift Oil and Petroleum Company on the exploration of hydrocarbon and energy resources at the Kolmani Oilfields, said he feels bad when people referred to the region as a “parasite” in Nigeria.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) discovered crude oil, gas and condensates in the Kolmani River region located in a border community between Bauchi and Gombe States in October 2019.

Yahaya also took a swipe at successive administrations in Gombe for not taking oil exploration in the Kolmani Oilfields serious thereby setting the state back economically.

He stressed that more than ever before, the need for the state to take advantage of oil and gas in the oilfields has become imperative, especially with the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and the clamour by some states to collect and retain the Value Added Tax (VAT).

The governor said the lack of political will by previous administrations to explore the abundant mineral resources in Gombe was responsible for the state’s economic predicament.

Yahaya said: “The need for us to explore and get maximum benefit from our God-given natural endowments is imperative now having realized how much ground we have lost in that direction.”