Of JTF, refineries and Niger Delta
5 Jan 2010
Author: Emmanuel Ukudolo
Country: Nigeria
The Joint Task Force (JTF) set up by the Federal Government with an order to restore hope in the Niger Delta, following an onslaught by militants in the area has in recent times switched focus from searching for militants (freedom fighters), thanks to cessation of hostilities engendered by amnesty, put together by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The focus has shifted to refineries. It is no longer news to read or hear that that JTF has destroyed what it classified as illegal refineries. What is news is the number of refineries that would be smashed by the task force. By the last count, at least 878 of these facilities not licensed to refine petroleum products have been destroyed by JTF in the Niger Delta region. At least 12 of these were destroyed in January 2009 alone. One hundred and fifty were destroyed in November same year. In that operation, over 2,000 drums of refined petroleum products and 16 fuel tankers loaded with refined products worth millions of naira were confiscated in addition to 10 other assorted cars and buses used for the operations.
Speaking on the development in Warri, Delta State, the JTF Sector Commander, Colonel Jamil Sarham, argued that the refineries were thriving as a result the inability of oil thieves to move stolen products through the waterways to the high seas due to the blockade mounted by military personnel.
Few days ago, in December, 2009, the media was again abuzz with reports that about 600 of such refining depots in Rivers State had been damaged by the agency.
Speaking on the development, in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State, the Commander of JTF, Major-Gen Sarkin-Yakin Bello, described oil bunkering and refining of petroleum products in the area as dangerous due to its adverse effect on environmental degradation and pollution.
According to him, Between October and this month (December), the 104 Battalion of Sector 3 JTF identified and destroyed about 600 illegal refineries. These illegal refineries were found in Wenol, Deyor, Kidere, Bidere, Boobari, Bodo, Biara, Kpor Waterside and Bomu all in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.
He also stressed that over 1,000 similar refineries were in operation in the area.
Bello added that 22 drums of refined and adulterated petroleum products, 27 empty jerry- cans, two steel funnels and seven suspects were arrested trying to siphon crude oil from a damaged oil well head.
He also advised operators of the facilities to channel their talents to legitimate endeavours that could benefit not only themselves but their communities and the nation at large. Ironically, the JTF is destroying these refineries when the four licensed and owned by the Federal Government have failed to address the petroleum needs of the country.
One of the four operates in Kaduna, Kaduna State, two in Port Harcourt, and the fourth one in Warri, in Rivers and Delta states respectively with a combined capacity to produce 445,000 barrels per day (bpd). They are however said to have failed to produce at full capacity. To prop up local capacity, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that plans are afoot to set up two additional refineries with a combined capacity to produce between 200,000 to 300,000 bpd by 2013. This, the government agency has argued, is to be able to meet up with the domestic shortfall now addressed through importation by major marketers.
This shortfall and unforeseen occurrences along distribution pipes have often created chaos in the distribution chain, forcing many to question the rationale for destroying micro-refineries set up by resourceful individuals in the Niger Delta, even when those licensed by the Federal Government to set up private refineries have all failed to make use of the privilege for what licensees have described as stringent conditions.
Reacting to the situation, Akinreti Kazim, a journalist working for the Voice of Nigeria (VON) lauded the ingenuity of those who are involved in the unlicensed refining of petroleum products.
According to him, what is however illegal remains so, stressing that the destruction of these facilities are quite in order. He however called for ways in which government could harness the skills of these individuals for the benefit of those proposing private refineries for the benefit of Nigerians.
On his part, the former Secretary General of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Mr. Frank Ovie Kokori, noted that the refineries categorized by JTF as illegal are such because the products are not scientifically tested.
According to labour leader, they could be makeshift refineries assembled in the backyard for the production of petroleum products, which cannot be compared with the standards of the four major refineries.
Kokori however pointed out that this does not in any way create excuse for the marketers to hold Nigerians to ransom over petroleum products.
He also described the current shortage as nothing but a product of bad planning which could be overcome with good planning adding that current practice of taking crude oil abroad for refining is counterproductive.
But human rights lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, sees the destruction of the home-made refineries as irresponsible, since the resources deployed in setting them up domiciled in Nigeria.
According to him, what government ought to have done is to take over these refineries and use them to supplement what is already being produced by the four owned by the Federal Government.
He is also of the view that in the operators of these local refineries are lessons and techniques which could be applied by those going into private refineries, since those licensed to run private refineries in the country have not been able to do so in the past two years.
For Joseph Eva, Coordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group, it is a total shame for the JTF to embark on the destruction of refineries in the Niger Delta.
Eva maintained that, while the military elsewhere in the world are protecting their people, the Nigerian armed forces are busy destroying refineries set by the local people using native intelligence, stressing that these facilities are producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products for Nigerians.
He insisted that it is shameful that JTF is embarking on a destructive mission in a country that depends on importation of petroleum products simply because the powers that be own refineries outside the shores of Nigeria but which receive crude oil from Nigeria later brought back to Nigeria for self aggrandizement.
I weep for Nigeria, he said, stressing that the military showing off their might in the Niger Delta had failed the nation by withdrawing into their cocoon when it mattered most for Nigeria to defend the Bakassi peninsula.
According to him, the military could not defend Nigerians against the Cameroonian soldiers, who were fighting with locally assembled arms and ammunition. Rather than destroy the source of livelihood of the local people in the Niger Delta, Eva wants the military to concentrate on protection of the territorial integrity of the country and leave the Niger Delta people to continue to show the world that there is no big deal about refining crude oil in Nigeria.
