Illegal Refineries: I’ll Push For Legislative Backing To Recognize, Reform Them – Uduaghan

Immediate past governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, says his mandate when elected as senator representing Delta South would include pushing for legislative backing to recognize and reform non-conventional refineries in the country instead of the present practice of destroying them.

Uduaghan stated this in a post BigPen Online obtained from his Facebook page, expressing worried that about 6,000 illegal refineries, operational in the country, were reportedly destroyed by the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in 2015.

According to him, some of these ‘refineries’ were actually rickety ‘science projects’ being over-glorified by calling them ‘oil refineries’.

He said that among the existing thousands of illegal refineries, which are scattered around the Niger Delta creeks, there is likelihood that there will be a good number of well set-up refineries among them.

Uduaghan contended that the government can harness the illegal refinery industry to complement its four legal refineries, maintaining that currently the poorly set up make-shift contraptions are dangerous and should be done away with, but “those youths should be engaged in better set-up refineries”, he added.

The former governor queried why the so-called illegal refineries would be destroyed to further degrade the Niger Delta environment if they can be setup as better “petroleum product factories”.

“This is the origin of the call for the upgrade of the so-called ‘illegal refineries’, and if possible, they should be licensed, he said.

The All Progressive Congress (APC), Delta South senatorial candidate said that the illegal refineries that are being destroyed offer a lot of employment for the youths.

“Is the government not simply short-changing the country with the sustained posturing and grandstanding of describing the local refineries in the Niger Delta as illegal and criminalizing their operations?

“There has to be a rethink towards the “illegal refineries”. By and large, the illegal refineries are a testimony to the ingenuity of Nigerian youths and their ability to creatively innovate despite the challenges of their existence.

“The ingenuity that has been exhibited by the operators of the so called “illegal refineries” should constitute the foundation of technological breakthrough.

“As a former Governor and APC Senatorial Candidate, I fully appreciate this reality and on arrival in the Senate as Senator representing Delta South Senatorial District of Nigeria, my mandate include pushing for legislative backing to recognize and reform non-conventional refineries in the country instead of the present practice of destroying them”.

Uduaghan said that the legislation would create employment for more youths in Delta South Senatorial District of Nigeria and Niger Delta as well as reduce the level of crime and criminality in Delta South and Niger Delta region.

He said that the legislation would also provide a platform to promote local technological innovation in oil refining in Delta South Senatorial District of Nigeria and other Niger Delta states (through collaboration with my brother-senators.