The Federal Government on Wednesday said it has been working to establish three modular refineries in each of the oil producing states, specifically in the Niger Delta region.
Going by the proposed plan, the government would have to establish about 18 refineries in the country’s six major oil producing states in the Niger Delta including Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Edo and Cross River.
The objective was to cease the illegal non-industrial refining activities that happen in oil producing areas and its impact on residents in the affected locations.
The Minister of State for Environment, Chief Sharon Ikeazor, disclosed this in a statement issued by her ministry in Abuja.
She said, “In a bid to find alternative sources of livelihood for artisanal refiners and to encourage them to disengage completely from their illegal activities, the Federal Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the Office of the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and other critical stakeholders, are working on the establishment of three modular refineries per state in the oil producing areas as a pilot scheme to engage them (artisanal refiners).
“These modular refineries are intended to be 100 per cent designed and manufactured in Nigeria using the expertise of government institutions such as the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Federal University of Petroleum Effurun and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
“Others include Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Niger Delta Development Commission, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Nigerian Content Development and Management Board, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, etc.”
“These modular refineries are intended to be 100 per cent designed and manufactured in Nigeria using the expertise of government institutions such as the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Federal University of Petroleum Effurun and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.
“Others include Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Niger Delta Development Commission, Petroleum Technology Development Fund, Nigerian Content Development and Management Board, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, etc.”
“These measures will help to drastically reduce the menace of artisanal refining, oil theft and pipeline vandalism to the benefit of our environment and bring prosperity to the oil host communities in the Niger Delta and to our nation at large.”
The minister noted that the menace of artisanal refining, oil theft and pipeline vandalism were largely responsible for the devastating degradation of the Nigerian environment, especially in the Niger Delta region.
