Every so often, the Nigerian nation is hard hit with petrol scarcity. This is because the nation has no refining capacity. Ironically, Nigeria is about the fourth largest exporter of crude and the largest importer of refined products. The nation’s four refineries have long ceased to function making importation of petrol what the country cannot do without.
Illegal refinery operators
In a period of low foreign exchange earnings from oil, the country is expending its reserves in the importation of petroleum products. This aside, the fuel cartel is milking the country dry through fuel subsidy. Yet, the Nigerian armed forces, especially the Joint Task Force every so often breaks the news of the destruction of hundreds of illegal refineries in the Niger-Delta region of the country.
The most recent is the report by the Central Naval Command last Wednesday when it said its operatives have destroyed eight illegal refineries and about 300 metric tons of products suspected to be Automated Gas Oil and Crude Oil at Akassa in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa StateIf there are operators in the informal sector of the Nigerian economy that have developed indigenous ways of refining petroleum products, would it not pay the nation more to investigate the technology used and adopt it for local refining? Nigeria will be better for it if it employs local skills to develop the oil sector. Modular refineries are being used globally. Nigeria could research into this local technology and use it to empower the citizenry.
If these local refiners are embraced, the government could work with them and sell crude to them for refining. This strategic engagement could end crude oil theft. By legalising their operations, they will add to the stream of petroleum products available in the country. Many of these refiners could, on the long run employ some of the unemployed youths in the country thus creating jobs and reducing the level of unemployment in the country. This administration prides itself as a government whose economic policy is to elevate Nigerians and alleviate poverty.
Nigeria has the habit of missing out on great opportunities. During the civil war, Biafra used the same technology to sustain its struggle for three years. The technology employed by the rebels to prosecute the war was dumped and Nigeria lost out of the gains it would have had at the end of the war.
Here again is a trying moment for the nation and opportunity like this springs up, all the nation’s leaders and law enforcement agents are seeing is the wrong side of the coin. They are not asking how far the technology can go in relieving the nation of the perennial fuel crisis if it is developed. No, they are criminals, they should be shot. Nigerian leaders need to put on a thinking cap and think out of the box to save the nation the pains of endless queues at filling stations every so often.
(Courtesy of Vanguard Nigeria)
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