The federal government on Thursday, halted further exploration and search for oil and gas in any part of the northern Nigeria including Chad Basin and Benue hydrocabon region.
The announcement was made by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu who said government will continue to review the security situation in the North East before further decision will be taken on the exploration.
The development stemmed from a recent ambush by Boko Haram on oil workers searching for the black gold in Lake Chad Basin.
The decision is further fueled by the recovery of about 48 corpses of persons killed by Boko Haram insurgents during one of the exploration adventure within the Lake Chad Basin which were taken to the Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in the Borno State capital.
Sources at the UMTH and the Maimalari Army Barrack said the corpses were brought into Maiduguri from the scene of the attack.
The corpses brought include 18 soldiers, 15 Civilian JTF, five university staff and four NNPC drivers.
Also six persons who were wounded in the attack but escaped to somewhere in Yobe State were later found dead and brought to Maiduguri.
Apart from the wounded soldiers admitted to military hospital in the town, two members of the Civilian JTF were as at Thursday, on admission at the University of Maiduguri teaching Hospital (UMTH).
