The host community of the Kolmani oilfield in Bauchi State has challenged the Federal Government to turn its renewed interest in the stalled project into visible action and warned that another round of assurances ahead of the 2027 elections will not satisfy communities that have watched exploration equipment disappear from the site.
The Pali Development Association, which represents the host community, issued the warning on Tuesday after the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) visited the oilfield to assess its condition and explore ways of reviving activities.
Chairman of the association, Hashim Pali, welcomed the verification exercise but said the people of Bauchi State and the North-East needed more than official visits and fresh declarations.
“As a member of the host community, it is indeed a welcome development because we welcome any genuine commitment towards the resumption and completion of the oil exploration activities at Kolmani,” Pali said.
He, however, questioned the timing of the renewed attention. He recalled that President Bola Tinubu made commitments concerning the project during his 2023 presidential campaign in Gombe State.
Pali said residents had expected the administration to advance the project after taking office, but exploration eventually stopped and equipment deployed to the site was removed.
He said, “Our expectation and the expectation of the people of Bauchi State and the entire North-East was that upon the assumption of President Bola Tinubu into office, his administration would sustain the momentum and ensure that the project proceeded towards actual exploration and production.
“Unfortunately, after the administration assumed office, rather than witnessing the expected continuation and acceleration of the development of the project, the Kolmani site stopped. They evacuated all the equipment there.”
He questioned why the project had been allowed to lose momentum for years before government attention returned as another electoral cycle approached.
“What happened to the last three years?” Pali asked. “It is only now that the government is interested? No. We have to ask so many questions and continue to demand answers.”
For the host community, the issue goes beyond the politics surrounding the 2027 election. Pali described Kolmani as a strategic economic asset with the capacity to generate jobs, infrastructure, energy, revenue and other opportunities for the North-East and Nigeria.
“Kolmani is not a campaign property. It is not an electoral slogan that will be repeated anytime when the election comes,” he said.
Pali called for immediate remobilisation of the project, sustained funding and a clear timetable that Nigerians can monitor.
The National Coordinator of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), Jamilu Charanci, echoed the concern, saying the North-East needed tangible benefits rather than ceremonial activity around the oilfield.
“This is not the first time Kolmani has been presented with political fanfare. Similar promises were made in 2022, shortly before the 2023 elections, yet the expected transformation never materialised,” Charanci said.
He said government must now proceed from verification to exploration, production, employment, and infrastructure.
“If this government is serious, let the rigs return, let exploration commence, and let the people see the benefits, not another political promise recycled for electoral purposes,” he said.
The renewed controversy followed Monday’s inspection by RMAFC Chairman, Muhammad Bello, who led a delegation to the Bauchi site.
Bello said the commission wanted to restore the momentum of the project, assess its current state, and present its findings to the relevant authorities.
“We want the momentum of the project that was started in 2023 to return,” he said.
He added that President Tinubu had assured the governors of Bauchi and Gombe that mobilisation for the project would resume.
The Bauchi State Commissioner for Natural Resources, Maiwada Bello, provided further context on the stalled development. He said there had been some activity between January and June 2025, before the project was again demobilised around July.
The commissioner said state officials later learnt that the withdrawal of equipment was based on a directive from a higher authority. The matter was subsequently brought before the governors of Bauchi and Gombe, who raised it with the President.
Maiwada said Tinubu had promised that work would resume quickly, but added that the state had received no substantive update since then.
The situation has therefore put the Federal Government under pressure to demonstrate that the latest verification exercise is the beginning of a sustained revival rather than another stop-start episode.
For the people living around Kolmani, the measure of progress is unlikely to be another delegation at the site or another public declaration. They want to see equipment return, exploration restart, and the economic opportunities promised from the oilfield begin to take shape.
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The coming months will show whether Kolmani has entered a genuine new phase or whether its long-delayed promise will once again become a talking point as Nigeria heads towards the 2027 general elections.
