When the Niger State government recently took the risky path of funding the search for oil and gas in the Bida Basin, the administration of Governor Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu must have had at the back of its mind that the regime will be open to criticism from within and outside if the venture failed. Instead of seeking help from outside, the government decided to commission its own Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University at Lapai to handle the project, a step which served twin purposes of strengthening the capacity of the university in the area of oil and gas research and at the same time reducing the amount the project would have cost if commissioned to outsiders. There is no doubt that dedication to the project was also achieved because the university team that handled it see the job as ‘our own’ which must not fail and they put all they had into it .
