ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Artisanal crude oil refining body in Bayelsa State has urged the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to speed up the process of granting them licences to enable them to begin operations.
The group warned that delays in granting licences could cast doubt about the Federal Government seriousness in the project and could encourage some persons to return to the creeks to cause more damage to oil facilities and the environment.
The warning came just as a body, the Project With Artisanal Crude Oil Refiners (PACOR), on Wednesday inaugurated three cooperative societies in Bayelsa State.
The National Facilitator, PACOR, Comrade Fyneface Dumnamene, said that in line with the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari, the body had inaugurated the Bayelsa West, Central and East Modular Refinery Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Limited.
Dumnamene said the cooperative societies would act as the authentic platforms for the real artisanal crude oil refiners in the state.
Dumnamene, who is also the Executive Director, Youth and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC), said the centre had been advocating the initiative since 2017 and they were happy that the President accepted and directed them to form it into cooperatives for licences approval.
He said: “The cooperative you see today is the platform to drive this process for the modular refineries to be set up. Local and international partners are coming, companies that are into businesses will partner with them, the blueprint will be designed and people will come in as business partners.
“These are the authentic platforms of the real artisanal crude oil refiners who have stopped and embraced the Federal Government’s policy on modular refineries as alternatives means of livelihoods in Bayelsa State.
“The cooperative has a Constitution, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and everything will be done according to the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Whatever investment that is going to be made is not going to anybody’s pocket; it will go into an account that people who have control over it will manage and use it to build the modular refineries.
“Whoever embezzles anybody’s money will face the music of the regulatory agencies and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as well as ensure that those who commit economic crimes are sent to jail.”
While thanking President Buhari for approving their recommendation for the establishment of three modular refineries in each Niger Delta states, he urged him to speed up the process of granting them licences to begin operations.
Dumnamene stated: “It is our recommendation also that you speed up the process and also kindly consider and establish a Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refinery Development Initiative (PACORDI) for artisanal crude oil refiners in the Niger Delta similar to the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Developments Initiative (PAGMI) in parts of the North and Western Nigeria.
“We look forward to having you issue modular refinery licences to these cooperative societies so that they do not regard the government as unseriousness and return to the creeks to cause more damage to oil facilities and our fragile environment.”
The Bayelsa State Coordinator of the cooperatives, Mr Philips Godfrey, requested the quick release of the licences to the cooperatives since they were now duly registered by the Federal Government.
Most of the stakeholders who spoke at the event called on the Federal Government to quickly release the licenses to the cooperatives to end the menace of the illegal artisanal activities in most parts of the state and other Niger Delta states.