The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has held talks with the Borno State Government on the resumption of oil exploration activities in the Chad Basin, electricity supply to Maiduguri and the development of a proposed solar farm.
The discussions took place when the Chairman of NNPC Limited’s Board, Ahmadu Musa Kida, led a delegation to meet Governor Babagana Umara Zulum at the Government House in Maiduguri on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.
The meeting focused on the resumption of seismic data acquisition at the Wadi-1 exploration site, the Maiduguri Emergency Power Project (MEPP) and plans for a new solar farm.
Kida thanked the state government for its support, particularly the allocation of land for the proposed solar project and its efforts in securing Federal Government intervention on gas supply to the emergency power plant.
He reaffirmed NNPC’s commitment to completing ongoing projects in the state, assuring the governor that the MEPP combined-cycle plant would be brought on stream to provide 50 megawatts of electricity to Maiduguri.
Kida also disclosed that NNPC recorded a profit after tax of N7.2 trillion in 2025, compared with N5.4 trillion in 2024.
On exploration activities, the Executive Vice President, Upstream, Udy Ntia, expressed optimism about the resumption of seismic data acquisition at the Wadi-1 site by NNPC Energy Services Limited.
The exercise was suspended in April 2025 following security threats.
Ntia said operations were expected to resume once adequate security assurances were in place.
Responding, Zulum assured NNPC of the state government’s security support for the resumption of exploration activities in the basin.
The governor also proposed that maintenance of exploration equipment should be carried out locally to facilitate the return of operations.
He further waived statutory land charges for the proposed solar farm and urged NNPC to consider extending the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) gas pipeline from Kano to Maiduguri.
Other members of the NNPC delegation included the Executive Vice President, Gas, Power and New Energy, Olalekan Ogunleye, and the Managing Director of NNPC Energy Services Limited, Sotonye Pinnick.
