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Energy
experts have urged the Federal Government to standardize the operation of
illegal refineries and expose them to international best practice to boost
local refining capacity in the country.
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Group threatens to sue FG over NDDC board
Stakeholders have
expressed fears that operation of illegal refineries in Niger Delta has become
an unwholesome practice that would be difficult to stop.
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A
view of an illegal crude oil refinery site in the creeks of an Ogoni community
in Nigeria's Niger Delta, on July 7, 2010. (Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye)
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The
Executive Director of Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group, Dr. George-Hill
Anthony, who spoke at a policy dialogue meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State,
which was rounded off at the weekend, said that the operations of artisanal
refineries are threats to the aviation sector if not checkmated.
“If
artisanal refineries are not well regulated and some of the products find their
way to the aviation sector, the nation may well be sitting on a keg of
gunpowder awaiting national calamities.”
Also,
the Executive Director, African Citizens’ Initiative for Rights and Development
(ACIDR), Young Kigbara, traced the emergence of artisanal refineries in Niger
Delta to the desire of the region to control their resources.
His
words: “The people of the region feel that they have been alienated from the
benefits that flow from oil exploration in their communities.” Kigbara also
blamed the weakened community leadership for the inability of traditional
institution to tame the trend among their subjects, especially the youths.
Meanwhile,
illegal refineries that specialize in the production of alternative petroleum
products, popularly referred to as ‘Kpo-Fire,’ is thriving as a result of
poverty and products’ scarcity in the Niger Delta region, The Guardian has
learnt.
A
trip to Bodo community in Rivers State showed the presence of ‘Kpo-Fire’ in
almost every corner of the community in the oil-rich state that houses the
largest refinery in the country. Indeed, at most filling stations in the Niger
Delta, kerosene, diesel and petrol are categorized into three namely: dry
(refined petroleum products in conventional refineries), mixed and ‘Kpo-fire’.
The
‘dry’ fuel, which is not mixed, are the products refined in standard refineries
while mixed is a mixture of ‘Kpo-fire’ and the normal petroleum product while
the third is ‘Kpo-fire’ products.
While
original fuel costs ₦180 to ₦200 per litre, ‘Kpo-fire’ costs about ₦130 and
Kpo-fire kerosene costs ₦100 per litre. A community leader in the community,
Saint Emmah Pii, told The Guardian that though ‘Kpo-fire’ is still in use in
his community, it is no longer produced within the area.
He
said: “We stopped the production of ‘Kpo-fire’ in Bodo community through a
traditional means. We simply swore to an oath that no one should engage in it
and it stopped.”
In
another development, a group, under the auspices of Concerned Niger Deltans,
has threatened a legal action against the Federal Government over alleged
tenure elongation of the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The
group, therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to wade into what it
described as the illegal and unlawful tenure elongation and reverse it
immediately in the interest of justice.
In a protest letter to the Presidency, the concerned group demanded that the provisions of the law establishing the commission be strictly adhered to in resolving the dispute. The group, led by Yekini Nabena, said that the purported tenure elongation was unacceptable and indeed, an affront to the good people of Niger Delta region on the ground that the act violated Section 5 (3) of the NDDC Act 2000.
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