The Presidential Amnesty Program has issued a warning about the activities of illegal crude oil refineries in the Niger-Delta region, calling it a dangerous trend.
According to the organisation, the domestic refining of crude oil by artisans in host communities had grave health and environmental implications for the country.
The Federal Government also stated that in the past, Nigeria lost 53 million barrels of oil worth more than $2 billion due to informal crude oil refineries.
The national coordinator of PAP, Colonel Millard Dikio (retd.), issued the warning during the 2nd edition of the stakeholders’ engagement on the integration of modular/artisanal refinery operations in the oil and gas sector in Abuja.
The event was organized by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger-Delta Affairs with the theme: “Current challenges of revenue loss, petroleum product scarcity, environmental pollution and negotiated way-out.”
Dikio also encouraged all stakeholders to set aside their differences and support efforts to save not only the environment, but also the country’s economy.
He warned that, “things can get worse” in Nigeria, if urgent and systematic steps were not taken to contain the effects of informal crude oil refining.
The PAP Coordinator said, “We cannot seek to make money by all means. We cannot destroy our environment, because we want to make it.
“There are problems with artisanal refining. These activities have serious health and environmental implications, but what is the way forward? We all need to put our heads and hands together to so solve these problems.”
The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, sais that Nigeria lost about $2 billion worth of crude oil in the recent past due to the activities of informal modular refinery operators.
He however, said Nigeria’s challenges in that regard were surmountable through policy measures that would fully integrate them into the mainstream oil and gas industry.
Orji said, “Harmonizing and backing modular refineries with policy will reduce or eliminate pipeline vandalism, check oil theft, and save the nation from revenue loss.
“From our recent independent report in the oil and gas sector, Nigeria lost 53 million barrels worth over $2 billion in revenue losses, and this is about 674 million barrels that were produced in that year.
“During the same period over three million liters were spilled in over 370 locations within the host communities with attendant complex consequences for the economy.”
Orji said that the NEITI would support any measure to stop crude oil theft and losses as well as liberalize the industry to create more jobs for our youths.
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, said ongoing efforts to ensure that artisanal crude oil refiners were absorbed into the formal sector would get the backing of the Federal Government because of the multiplier effects on the nation’s revenue base.
Agba said, “Any attempt at formalizing the informal sector would be supported. Why? It would enhance revenue to the government. A lot of studies have shown that the informal sector ranges between 60-70 percent of the Nigerian economy. That’s very significant, but they are not registered, regulated or paying taxes.
“So, the government and even the citizens are losing, because there’s no standard procedure for operation. That’s why we consider it very imperative.
“We will continue to support any programme of action or structure that would help the transition from informal to formal organisations, because we will all benefit from it.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger-Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, said that the government had lost so much money to oil thieves, stressing that it was high time the country regularized modular refinery operators to save the economy.