Former illegal
oil refiners in Rivers State have declared that they would resume
illegitimate refining of petroleum products until the Federal Government
empowers them. The refiners,
who are mainly from Ogoni extraction, pointed out that they would
return to the business, which according to them was their only source of
survival, pending the time the Federal Government provides an
alternative.
They
stated their position at the weekend during a one-day consultative
meeting with the Minister of State for Environment and Chairman,
Governing Council, Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP),
Ibrahim Jibrin, organised by the office of the Project Coordination,
HYPREP, in Port Harcourt.
Speaking
for the ex-artisan refiners, Mr. Domka Humphrey noted that they would
only stop refining petroleum products illegally if the Federal
Government provides alternative businesses for them.
He also demanded their participation in the remediation project. Humphrey
said: “I will tell you our minds; if you don’t empower us, we will not
stop refining, because this is what we use to feed our families and
relatives with.
We don’t have anything doing after government took away pipeline surveillance from us. “So,
we need to be carried along; some of us are graduates; many people are
still in the bush refining. If you empower us, we will talk to them and
they will leave the bush. But where we are not seeing anything, it would
be very difficult for us to leave illegal refining.”
Meanwhile,
Jibrin in his address to the former artisan refiners, promised that the
Federal Government in partnership with the Ministry of Petroleum and
office of project coordination, HYPREP, would make sure that they are
trained in different skills.
Jibrin said:
“I have heard all of you; I’m assuring you that the issue will get to
the Acting President. But remember that you have fishes and animals of
all kinds; we cannot get them if you contaminate the water with
hydrocarbon pollution.
“We
need the mangrove because we use it for firewood. But it is in our own
interest to keep our environment clean; it is in our own interest to
ensure that whatever we must do we have to take care of our environment.
“That
is why the Federal Government has taken the issue of Modular refinery
seriously; it is community based. It is going to be regulated. There is
need for us to organize ourselves into responsible cooperatives.”
The
Head Project Coordination, Dr. Marvin Dekil, also urged the illegal
refiners to stop their activities, stressing that it would affect the
Ogoni clean-up project negatively.
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