Opposition Leader Bruce Golding has urged university students to be more proactive in speaking out against negative issues affecting the society.

One particular issue he has challenged the students to keep a close eye on is oil exploration in Jamaican waters.

Addressing the re-launch of the G2K chapter at theUniversity of Technology (UTech) campus yesterday, Mr. Golding said preliminary results have shown that exploration for oil along the country's south coast has been encouraging.

"What may have been seen as a distant poke in the past is now appearing to be a distinct possibility, if not a likelihood," he said.

Mr. Golding said if oil exploration turned out to be fruitful it would be the answer to the country's economic woes if managed properly.

He said the Opposition would be insisting that if Jamaica has commercial quantities of oil within its territorial waters, then the benefits of the oil be managed in a way to secure Jamaica's economic future.

"But if we are not careful we could run with that too and we could miss an opportunity," he warned.

Oil reserve plan

Mr. Golding has suggested that if the exploration proved fruitful, Jamaica should go the similar route of Trinidad and Tobago to set up an oil reserve fund.

"It was set up in such a way that no government over there could run with it," he said.

"I am going to challenge you to watch this oil exploration," he said. "We are going to be insisting on it that if it is confirmed that Jamaica has commercial quantities of oil within our territorial waters, we are going to want the benefits of that oil managed in such a way to secure Jamaica's economic future," he said.