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Tunde Temionu
Published 14 May 2021
Whether you call it Ondo bitumen, Loda-Agbabu-Yegbata bitumen or whatever name you want, the ultimate goal should be to have an exploration for bitumen that does not plunge the people in the producing areas into starvation and regret, like we have in the case of the oil-producing areas in Nigeria.
Sincerely, one must give kudos to the Senator representing Ondo South Senatorial District, Nicholas Tofowomo, for sponsoring the bill to establish a bitumen institute (as a precursor to the exploration), in Ode-Aye, Okitipupa Local Government Area a few weeks ago. The development appears likely to break the jinx of the delayed take-off of the long-awaited bitumen exploration in Ondo State. While the commercially minded stakeholders in the proposed bitumen project are looking at it from the perspective of economic development, the farmers and the inhabitants of the areas involved see themselves as prospective victims of the hazards of the exploration.