Legalising Illegal Refining as Pathway to Ending Militancy

Illegal oil refining in the Niger Delta is not an entirely new venture; it has gained a life of its own but with negative consequences on the environment and economics of the region. Chineme Okafor writes on the recent decision of the federal government to convert illegal refineries into legal useful entities

As part of its plan to develop the oil-bearing Niger Delta and perhaps end crude oil-related criminalities in the region, the federal government recently announced that it would seek out ways to formalise operations of illegal oil refineries, which have taken more than it has offered to the region and its environment.

As part of its peace-seeking trip to end militancy in the region and allow for steady production of oil, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo disclosed that the country would have to find a way to provide jobs for people who live off illegal refining of oil in the Niger Delta.

He stated in Rivers State, that in its renewed approach to taking care of illegal refineries’ operators in the region, the government would engage them to tap into their expertise, thus indicating that a new approach entirely different from that of destroying their operational bases was in the offing.

“Our approach to that is that we must engage them by establishing modular refineries so that they can participate in legal refineries,” said Osinbajo who added that: “We have recognised that young men must be properly engaged.”
Without providing further details on the plan of the government on this, the vice president however noted that the government would also make more provisions for the amnesty scheme it has going for former militants who laid down arms in 2009 in exchange for cash stipends and job training.

A flourishing business
As repeatedly reported in the media, illegal refining has remained one of the few flourishing businesses in the region, which, ironically has damaged the environment. Due to the derelict state of Nigeria’s four refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna, the country hugely relies on imported fuel to survive but these are often hard to find in the Niger Delta region.

Historically, there are usually huge differences in the price of a gallon of petrol sold in most Niger Delta states and that sold in other parts of the country like Lagos and Abuja. To augment their supply, residents of the region often resort to refined products from the illegally operated refineries which are also frequently destroyed by Nigeria’s security authorities during periodic raids on their various operational bases in the region.

From the environmental perspective, the operations of this illicit industry have been extremely harmful, yet financial beneficial to its operators. As anentrenched operation, there have been reports indicating that the industry is run by a syndicate of bigwigs who are also involved in illegal oil bunkering business, using a group of idle and ravenous youth of the region.

As at the last count in 2016, one of Nigeria’s security outfits – the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), said it identified and destroyed about 250 illegal refineries in one year, while securing the conviction of 40 people out of 118 involved in the illegal refineries’ operations in the region.

But beyond the economic considerations of the impacts of illegal refineries in the region, these activities have more importantly, severely impacted the biodiversity, forestry aesthetics, rebirth of plant species, and destruction of wildlife habitat in the Niger Delta.

It has also significantly disrupted the water cycle of the region’s rivers and freshwater sources, in addition to wiping off almost all of its medicinal plant species.
On the other hand, the region’s youthful population, have also embraced it as a source of livelihood, thus negating other healthy productive livelihood means. This has often pitted them against the country’s security formations in attempts to get rid of their operations.

NNPC backs plan
However, with the government’s announcement of its plans to convert the illegal refiners, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it would throw its support on such, describing it as part of the antidotes to criminality and militancy in the region.

According to the corporation, the government’s decision would take away from the streets of the region, many of its jobless young people who have resorted to criminal acts like petroleum assets vandalism.

In a statement from its Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, disclosed its support for the plan when he spoke at the 53rd International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS).

Baru, according to the statement defended the government’s plan to transform the illegal refineries in the Niger Delta into legal entities for proper integration of the youth in the region.
He argued that getting the youth to form consortia that could set up 1000 barrels per day modular refineries would get them off criminality and create jobs that would add to the region’s development indices.
DPR gives condition

Notwithstanding the government’s desires, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) however stated that it would not be in a hurry to grant operational licenses that would formalise the operations of the illegal oil refineries until standard Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies have been conducted on them and their locations.

The DPR which has the job of regulating for economic and operational benefits in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, stated that there were differences between standard modular refineries and illegal refineries, and that both could not be confused to mean the same thing.

The Department’s Assistant Director, Planning and Budget, Mr. Wole Akinyosoye, who represented its Director, Mr. Mordecai Ladan, said during a technical session on opportunities and challenges in the Nigerian oil and gas industry at the just concluded Nigeria Oil and Gas Opportunities Fair (NOGOF) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, that the Department would require a comprehensive EIA from operators of the illegal refineries, after which it would undertake deep studies of them before deciding on operational licenses for them.

Akinyosoye noted that DPR had in the past issued multiple number of licenses for modular refineries construction and had also requested for detailed EIA study of the locations of the refineries as provided for in the National Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industries in Nigeria (EGASPIN).

He added that beyond the EIA report, there were other requirements needed to be fulfilled before licenses for such refinery construction would be granted, and which from his explanations would irrespective of the government’s commitment to the conversion plans have to be met to guarantee safe operations of the refineries.