The Institute for African Renaissance Studies and Realization (IARSR) has urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to legalise modular refineries in the country.
It said the legalisation would boost revenue generation as well as save the country’s resources.
Making the appeal on Sunday, the IARSR Director at Gregory University, Uturu, Yahaya Ndu, explained that some artisanal refiners also known as ‘kpofire’ have shown the capacity to produce chains of petroleum products.
According to him, these artisanal refiners can supply these products for both consumption in the country and export across the globe.
Ndu said legalising the operations of these artisanal refiners would be a win-win for the country, and called on the government to put necessary measures to standardise “all so-called illegal refineries in the country.”
The director noted that years of government neglect of the Niger-Delta region with a spike in unemployment level encouraged illegal oil refining operations and the risks associated with them.
He said: “I call on the Nigerian government to get realistic and immediately put all necessary machinery in motion to legalise, standardise, regulate and monitor all so called illegal refineries in the country, a great majority of which are in the Niger Delta.
“How can we be destroying locally built mini-refineries that could, if encouraged, contribute in ameliorating the scarcity of petroleum products and creating gainful employment for our people? Does it make sense to do so while the country spends trillions subsidising refined petroleum products from abroad?” he queried.
Continuing, “On 24th April, 2022 an explosion at one of these refineries killed over 100 people. On October 2021, a previous explosion killed 25 etc. not to mention the fact that illegal oil refineries discharge residue from the boiling crude into rivers, polluting wildlife habitat and water cycle etc.
“If the illegal refineries are legalised, standardised and monitored it could be a win-win situation for all,” Ndu said.
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