Beautiful Nubia...

Beautiful Nubia...
Lagos is beautiful...lets keep it so

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Destruction of Illegal refineries: How about we consider the Alternatives.


The Nigerian Navy claims to have destroyed thousands of so called illegal refineries over the years mainly by setting them on fire, thereby further polluting the environment which is ironical considering that one of their main objectives is to help stop the pollution of the environment. I remember Senator Ben Bruce once advocated that these refineries could be legalised and they will pay taxes and employ people and he was lampooned heavily by many who didn’t stop to think if there could be some sense in what was suggested.
In the 1970’s, Some Asian Nations did something truly remarkable that have turned them into economic super powers, China, India and the Asian Tigers did something remarkable between the 1970’s and 1990’s they looked inward and found solution to their peculiar challenges, ignoring advice from western agents and the world bank and did what they believed will work for their own environment…and it has payed off, They developed their own technology, started crudely at first but with time, improved so much so that the rest of the world now learns from them, we could also achieve this by coming up with models that will work for our peculiar situation, I would suggest that instead of destroying these illegal refineries and burning them, further polluting the environment and all, Why don’t we engage the operators of this refineries, where and how do they source their crude, even with their very crude method of refining, they still show a level of intelligence, why don’t we harness whatever they have and make them improve on it and have safe and standard but modular refineries all over the region, that will be supervised by the relevant government agencies.  Presently they source their crude through illegal means, although the numerous oil spills in the region also supply them with steady crude, they can be compelled to get their crude legally and pay for it even if it is at a cheaper rate. They must become registered legal entities with the Corporate Affairs commission so they can access loans from banks, so they can expand in future.. If Government can consider this type of arrangement the positives will be employment for a whole lot of young people, increase in revenue base for the states, a cleaner environment because they will no longer operate at their crude level and would have to adhere to industry standards, Imagine we have just 10 of these type of modular small scale refineries in the Niger Delta region, employing graduates of engineering and others, paying taxes to the government and cleaning up the environment. The ripple effects will even reduce criminality in the region, with time these types of refineries can be improved upon and will even help to develop our own home grown technology. 
Building a standard Refinery is expensive, even major IOL are reluctant to invest in it, especially in a country like Nigeria where the industry is over regulated, These types of Modular refineries may be just the kind of home grown solution  we need to wean ourselves dependence on finished imported petroleum products. They will complement the standard refineries in the country and as time goes on, may also grow to become standards in their own right.



No comments:

Post a Comment