Despite security checks, illegal refineries thrive in Rivers
Despite efforts by security agencies to stop oil bunkering and other criminal activities in the sector in Rivers and other states in the Niger Delta, illegal refining of petroleum products appears unabated. Jobless youths of Rivers State have seen the illegal business as a source of making quick money. Even those who meaningfully engaged in one trade or another have abandoned their various trades to join the illegal refining business.
From Borokiri, Iwofe, Abonnema wharf, Abuloma, Soku and Belie, illegal oil refining seems to be booming as security agencies appear helpless.
The research carried out recently by environmental experts attributed the current black soot that polluted the state to the activities of illegal refining business. According to the researchers, Aminayanaba Asimiea, Kadafa Adams and Ayuba Ayu, such activities have severely impacted on biodiversity, the forest, plants, destroying wildlife habitat and disrupting water cycle.
They said the Niger Delta environment was a highly sensitive ecological zone known for high biodiversity, noting that the people of the oil-rich region depend on these resources for livelihood.
Adams, in his 2012 research, observed that the Niger Delta environment had suffered degradation due to oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities.
According to Asimiea, the agitation of Niger Deltans against the degradation of their environment as a result of oil exploration and exploitation came to a climax between 1999 and 2009 when the youth of the region embarked on armed confrontation against the Federal Government.
To restore peace in the region, the Umaru Yara’dua administration granted amnesty to militants who surrendered their arms. But other unemployed youths who were not rehabilitated resorted to boiling crude oil in metal containers to distil petroleum products. That period marked the beginning of illegal refining of petroleum products in the region.
In their research, Adams, Adati Adati and Ayu observed that illegal refining activities impacted negatively on the environment because the principles of environmental protection were ignored. As a result of this, oil spilled into the nearby rivers, creeks and other water bodies.
The recent pronouncement by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, that the Federal Government would set up modular refineries and engage Niger Delta youths accordingly, seems to have heightened the activities of illegal refineries, especially in Rivers State.
Osinbajo said the youth, who were already engaged in the illegal activities, would be integrated into the proposed modular refinery project.
Known in the local parlance as ‘kpoo refinery,’ illegal refining is operated by a cartel, including those that supply the crude, those that refine the products and those involved in the evacuation of the end products. Fuel, diesel and kerosene are the end products of the illegal refineries.
“Do you want to make quick money through kpoo business? If you are interested I will show you the way. Before I joined this business I was working in a company where I earned N45, 000 in a month. But that amount was very little because it hardly took care of my needs. A friend introduced me into the business, and since I joined them, money has never been my problem,’’ one of the refiners identified as Peter told our correspondent who went undercover.
Peter continued, “It is a dangerous and complicated business. We operate like mafias. I don’t know those that are actually involved in the business or how they get crude oil. I am involved in distilling and cooking the products. We have so many locations where this is done. The crude passes through many processes of distillation by burning sensation. The end products are transformed into fuel, kerosene and diesel.’’
He said petroleum marketers, especially those who do not have the required licences to lift the products from government approved refineries, as well as black marketers, were always ready to buy from them.
On how they beat security checks to carry out their activities, Peter said, “This business is the more you look, the less you see. Some of the security agents are compromised. I believe most of them are settled by our masters. They usually destroy the site of those that did not settle them or those whose activities are in public glare, such that there is no way they would have compromised.’’
Also, the sale of adulterated petroleum products such as fuel and kerosene is booming in Port Harcourt and its environ. Investigation by our correspondent revealed that many households in the Rivers State capital are involved in the illicit business. In every street of the city, women and young boys are seen displaying jerry-cans of fuel for sale.
A roadside fuel dealer at Echue Street, who gave her name as Chiwe, said she bought her products from black market. “We normally go to Borokiri at night to buy fuel from the black market. I don’t know how they get the products, but each time we come, they sell to us,’’ she said.
Another roadside dealer at Oyigbo, Love Akubo, said she normally bought her product from Okrika. “We go to the Okrika jetty to buy fuel. I have been doing this business for the past two years. We buy from the black market and sell on retail to end users,’’ she said.
It is on record that adulterated fuel is having a negative effect on the end users. A couple of weeks ago, some blocks of flat were burnt down at the Rukpkwu axis of Port Harcourt. Eyewitnesses said the fire incident was caused by adulterated kerosene. One person reportedly lost his life while properties worth millions of naira were destroyed in the inferno.
A generator repairer at Oyigbo, Chibuzo Eke, advised fuel consumers to always buy petroleum products from filling stations.
“I always advise my customers to make sure they buy fuel and kerosene from filling stations. Most of the generators I repair on a daily basis are damaged as a result of bad fuel. This adulterated fuel destroys the engine carburetor and rings. That is the reason we advise our customers to buy fuel from filling stations,’’ he said.
But security agents are making frantic efforts to stop such illegal activities. The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) said about 250 illegal refineries were uncovered and destroyed in Niger Delta in 2016. In a press statement issued in Abuja by its spokesman, Okeh Emmanuel, the NSCDC said that out of the 118 people arrested across the Niger Delta region, 40 were convicted.
The Rivers State commandant of the corps, Lawan Haruna, said they arrested 78 oil pipeline vandals between January and March, 2017. He said 53 of the suspects had been arraigned in court while seven persons were released.
In Bayelsa State, the NSCDC said it destroyed about 400 illegal refineries in three months in 2016. The state commandant of corps, Desmond Agu, said the illegal refineries were destroyed between January and March, 2016.
Also, in a bid to stop the activities of illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin, charged the 25th batch of the Nigeria Navy ratings to get prepared as they would be involved in the fight to stamp out illegal oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the region.
Olonisakin, who was the reviewing officer at the Batch 25 passing-out-parade of the ratings, said the activities of illegal oil bunkers had affected the nation’s economy, just as it has negative environmental impact.
To help in curbing the menace of oil bunkering, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, last week donated eight gunboats to the Nigerian Navy.