Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, yesterday called on the federal government to consider allocating crude oil to illegal refineries operators to curb the growing theft of the commodity in the Niger Delta and stop the soot in the region.
The former lawmaker attributed the black emissions ravaging the Niger Delta to gas flaring as well as from illegal refining, leading to environmental damage.
Speaking on ARISE News Channel, THISDAY’s broadcast arm, Enang posited that the situation recently prompted a meeting where all participants in the illegal business were brought to the table and recommendations were made.
He stated that the only way to stop illegal refining was to provide alternative source of livelihood, stressing that the environment ministry was already working out the modalities.
Enang added that each state governments will have to engage with the illegal refiners, noting that there is the need for a refinery park, which will ensure that crude oil is legally given to the refiners.
According to him, artisanal refining is not being carried out by uneducated persons but those trained by the various institutions of learning in the country, adding that are therefore qualified to be engaged.
“They are not ordinary artisans that are not uneducated. Remember, this country through the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) had sent most of these children abroad and the universities around to train them on petroleum technology.
“The Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Warri, trained people on petroleum technology, the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE), trained these people on petroleum and then the amnesty programme of 2008/2009,” he said.
He argued that since the illegal refiners had not been engaged, they have decided to do the engagement themselves, adding that the state governments have to talk to them in in a refined way and create refinery parks.
“They have technology, they have the ability, they have the wherewithal to do it, and they’re doing it,” he noted, adding that the fuel imported into Nigeria is refined by small scale refineries and then taken into big barges,” he added.
The presidential aide explained that although the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, had done well to address the problem in Port Harcourt and the metropolis, the problem goes beyond the city.
But he argued that the oil from the facilities that are being destroyed was going back into the earth to despoil the environment, stressing that what should be done is to engage with them.
“The method that is being adopted in the course of the destruction is really polluting the environment and causing more damage to the environment. These people ‘refine’ and then they throw away the debris into the environment.
“But if you go and pour the remaining into the environment, you are re polluting and further worsening the situation. There should be a kind of controlled evacuation, such that the environment is not damaged, we are very concerned,” Enang explained.
He urged the government of the respective states that have control over land to get involved in the process so that other institutions could come in.
“It now leaves it to the upstream petroleum commission, downstream and midstream regulatory authority , and then the NNPC and the ministry of petroleum and the governments and institutions to agree to allocate this crude to these persons who will be allocated the refinery parks,” he said.
According to him, the states must be active collaborators in the process because the environment that is being damaged belong to them and the waters being polluted are theirs.
“ It is not the federal government that has to be responsible for everything. Federal government has no land in the Niger Delta to allocate. it is the government of the respective states,” Enang maintained.
The former lawmaker stated that although the cost of diesel now is about N365 per litre, the “illegal” refiners sell for as little as N95 to N100, thereby extending their relevance.
According to him, engaging them will remove the “illegal refiners” tag while providing legal jobs for them.
“They (illegal refiners) told us at the conference that if you give us the diesel, if you give us the crude, we will buy it and pay, but if you don’t give us, we will take and it will be a loss to you,” he said.
