Modular refineries will ease youth restiveness – Osinbajo
Vice President Yemi Osibanjo says the integration of artisan refinery operations into the oil industry will help reduce youth restiveness in the country, especially the Niger Delta region.
Osibanjo said the integration will also promote the availability of petroleum product, employment opportunities and reduce the cost of petroleum generally.
He made the statement on Tuesday while declaring open a two day National Summit on the Integration of Artisanal Refinery Operations into the downstream oil and gas sector held in Abuja.
Vice President Yemi Osibanjo in his keynote address to the participants of the summit said that activities of the artisan refiners will be regulated to prevent environmental degradation, assuring governments continuous support.
The convener of the summit, Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Adviser to the President, Niger Delta Affairs, said that petroleum products are refined by operators of artisan refineries in the Niger Delta states without payment to the federation account.
He regretted the resultant pollution of the environment by the indiscriminate disposal of refining bye products, and the need to regulate the production process by relevant authorities to save the ecosystem.
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning , Prince Clem Agba noted that government’s support of modular refineries will increase national development and help sustainability and sufficiency in petroleum products.
The minister who decried the economic downturn caused by Covid 19 Pandemic, assured that the burden can reduce by integrating the entrepreneurial capability of youths in the Niger Delta.
speaking, the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, represented by KOI Bussare said modular refiners should follow due process of gathering licenses to operate.
He advised the refiners to ensure they have the requisite technology to operate, bearing in mind the Economic Community of West African States standard of production.
Lending his voice to the need to accommodate artisanal refiners into the oil industry, the Minister of Science and Technology represented by Peter Ekweozo said the ministry will support the local refiners by providing the processing technology needed to achieve the modular refineries.
In an interview, a Professor of Petro-Chemical Engineering at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Professor Mohammed Daba who said that the university developed a modular refinery with the help of Petroleum Trust Development Fund, called for the integration of local refiners into the oil industry, the repair of Nigeria’s old refineries and employment of technology in the refining of crude.
The position of the Group Managing Director on the role of molecular refineries in the petroleum products chain and job creation was an indication that the Federal Government could be considering a policy shift away from criminalising the artisanal refineries into bringing them into the mainstream downstream sector of the oil industry.
