Illegal refineries resurface at Mbiama
On June 8, 2011 · In News

By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa
Barely four months after the Joint Task Force on Niger Delta codenamed Operation Restore Hope destroyed no fewer than 500 illegal refineries along the Orashi River at Mbiama, a border settlement between Rivers and Bayelsa States the operators of the illegal refineries are again back in business.

Security operatives from 5 Battalion of the Joint Taskforce on the Niger Delta backed by two helicopter gunship and a gunboat had sometime late in February launched an attack on the base at Mbiama believed to the hub of the illicit business off the East-West road straddling the state of the Niger Delta destroying seized adulterated fuel and equipment used in the illegal trade worth over N15million.

The military operation in which the operators of the illegal refineries were put to flight Vanguard gathered was in line with the mandate of the outfit to rid the region of crude oil theft as well as the rising cases of kerosene explosions in the delta.

But few months after the military operation which completely destroyed operations at the sprawling base located in the dense jungle tucked away from the prying eyes Vanguard investigation revealed that the operators of the trade had since regrouped and carrying out their nefarious trade.



South-EastReport
Police destroy six illegal refineries in Abia
From, OKEY SAMPSON, Aba
Wednesday, June 08, 2011


The Igbo man is noted for his ingenuity. That special gift from God manifestedduring the civil war when the people from the South-east geopolitical zone of the country were involved in the production of many technological war weapon ranging from the dreaded Ogbunigwe, popularized called “Ojukwu bucket” to the building of airstrips and refineries, using local raw materials.

This technological wizardry has not departed from the people. Thus it is not by accident that Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State is called the Japan of Africa as there is nothing that you want constructed or fabricated in the city, you cannot get.

This rear and great gift of creativity are also found in the leatherette sub-sector where shoes, bags, waist belts and allied products made in Aba compare favourably with others in any part of the world.
But not too happy enough, this Igbo man’s ingenuity was recently put into wrong use when the police discovered illegal refineries built and run by the locals in a village in Ukwa West Local Government of Abia State.
Before the carving out of Abia from the old Imo State in 1991, the Ukwa East and Ukwa West local government areas were just one – Ukwa. The area single-handedly gave Abia its status as an oil producing state.

Though Ukwa may be the hen that lays the golden egg for Abia, it has on the other hand remained a problematic child of sorts.
When kidnappers held sway in Abia and Aba in particular, nobody knew that Ugwati in Ukwa West Local Government where Obioma Nwankwo a.k.a Osisikankwo and his second in command in crime, Stone hailed from, was their headquarters. It took the kidnap of the 15 school children which drew wide condemnation and the eventual deployment of soldiers for the world to know that actually the sleepy village of Ugwuati was the base where the man that held Abia and neighbouring states on the jugular hailed and operated from there.

Just as the Augean stable was being cleared and Abia’s battered image beginning to be better again, an ugly incident happened again.
On May 13, the police in Aba got a tip off about the operation of illegal refineries at the sleepy village of Ezendioma in Ukwa West Local Government.
The Aba area commander of the Nigeria police, Rabiu Dayi quickly mobilized his men to the area. On the first day of the operation, which involved a combined team of the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS), the mobile police unit and the regular police, 40 suspects were arrested, including 148 (50 liters) of jerry cans, six buses stationed at the sites to lift the locally refined petroleum products which were filled in jerry cans to where they would be sold.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/illegal-refineries-resurface-at-mbiama/

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/08/national-08-06-2011-0022.html

Here are comments by well meaning Naijans.

1ahiara_declaration [Moderator] 1 hour ago
OK ITS ILLEGAL,BUT AM VERY HAPPY SEEING MY PEOPLE BEING ABLE TO REFINE FUEL ON THEIR OWN,THAT MEANS WE ARE PROGRESSING,SO WHAT THE FEDERAL GOERNMENT HAVE TO DO IS TO BRING THESE FOLKS AND TALENTS TOGETHER AND SET A STANDARD THAT CAN BE SUPPERVISED FOR A QUALITY PRODUCT SO THAT ALL THESE IMPORTATION WOULD STOP.I WAS HAPPY WHEN I HEARD THE NIGERIA DELTA HAS UPTO 500 REFINERY.GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAX THEM INSTEAD OF DISTROYING IT.THATS A WAY FORWARD "CONGRATULATION MY BROTHER"AFTERALL A JOURNEY OF 200 MILES STARTED FROM SOMEWHERE.
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christopheruwasomba [Moderator] 1 hour ago
Vaguard Newsmen should mind their business. For how long has
Nigerian Government been taking crude oil from Niger Delta and giving them nothing. When you think of it , It is Nigerian Government that is doing the stealing. In a free society the state has no right to confiscate private property without first entering into a
negotiation and adequately compensating the owners. Who did the Nigerian Government negotiate with before embacking on oil exploration in the Niger Delta? Nigeria needs a national dialoque
so that matters such as True Federalism,Land and resource can
be discussed.
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Henry Ozugha [Moderator] 2 hours ago
If the government, in time past and present, banned importation of certain goods such as okrika, textiles, shoes, and even decleared age limit for imported cars with a view to encourage local manufaturing of those goods, I think the same standard should be apply in this case.

Legitimise their operations, and bane all imported fuel, or better still place heavy tax on imported fuel to enhance local production.

All these crack-downs on local inovations is not in our national interest rather it is in the interest of lobbist who represent the interest of foreign oil firms and their Nigerian collaborators.
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nwimo [Moderator] 4 hours ago
Why call them refineries and turn around saying they make illicit and crude products? A refinery can only make one type of product: refined ones. May be they should be renamed illicit crude oil distilleries, for want of a better term.
In any case, Nigeria can use a crude oil refineries of any types, instead of importing its refined product. You cannot fault indigenous approach to technology. If refined products are available and affordable, like they are supposed to, these creek scientists would have been out of business, since.

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Joe [Moderator] 5 hours ago
lets not deceive ourselves no man is born a criminal and no man will wish to be crminal,situation force u to do unbelievable things,if babaginga atiku ,ciroma and all the northern mafia can enrich themslf with the resources niger deltan have at their back yard ,why wont they have the same resources by all means ,i love my country so dearly, i dont speak ill about her,i dont want to be tribalistic but just state my fact, 90 percent of nigeria gdp comes from niger deltan,this region is least develop in nigeria ,all the mafia's and crimimal's who flunt their wealth,derive it from niger deltan,let me ask my igbo yoruba and hausa's friend a question, HOW WILL YOU FEEL IF YOU ARE A NIGER DELTAN
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TERRY4BRANDY [Moderator] 6 hours ago
What is special about this? After all, there are so many illegal churches owned by illegal pastors everywhere, what about the illegal road blocks mounted by our trigger happy policemen or is it our illegal politicians stealing our money we want to talk about. Illegalities are everywhere in Nigeria. These are the set of people the Fed. Government need to send abroad for more training but not the repentant armed robbers who called themselves militants.
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IntermezzoWARRIOR [Moderator] 6 hours ago
We are a vision killer nation. If their refining is illegal, legalize it. If they steal crude oil, sell it to them. If their refining is substandard, offer them more training. It is cottage industries that made China and India what they are today. All developing economies thrive on small-time manufactures and refining like this. We are a nation of visionless. . . . Lord have mercy!
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Henry Ozugha [Moderator] 2 hours ago in reply to IntermezzoWARRIOR
Thank u for being forthright and honest. The problem with Nigeria is the hatred it has for the igbo nation. These people refined crude way back in Biafra. Why has Nigeria refused to build on the back of these ingeneous people. Licence these so called illegals and tax them for more revenue. No, they wont do it because they fear the igbo man will rise again.
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areibim [Moderator] 6 hours ago
Has anyone cared to ask these alleged law breakers if they would like to purchase a permit to operate legally? Or are we going stay stuck in the dark ages forever.
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festus i [Moderator] 6 hours ago
see me se wahala o. govt has been inept about making the refineries to work. Through the ingenuity and hard work, these local technologist have devised ways of refining the crude for local market. Is that not cheaper way of making the product available? Haba government, are you only interested in pouring billions into the white elephants call refineries in Nigeria? If the technologies of these locals can be replicated all over the states in Nigeria, it will not only assist the economic growth through cheap technologies, jobs will also be in abundance. All that the govt will need to do is find a way to regulate the sale of crude oil locally. The economies of scale will certainly forced down prices through competition. GEJ think about this.
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I feel you brother. Though there are risks in refining fuel recklessly, I feel these people should be encouraged to buy licences and refine there own oil. It is sad that Nigeria has oil but kerosene and other fuels are too expensive for the common man. We export oil, and then import refined oil, leaving us at a net loss (probably). Nigerians have the highest density of generators per household in the world, so we use a lot of fuel. All the refineries either don't work or are totally useless because they produce less than 1% of locally used fuel products. The problem with Nigeria and Nigerians is that they refuse to support small scale investments and don't even recognise what it means for them. It means they would either have to continuously wait for their incompetent government or worst still; cry and beg on tv for international investors to come and rescue us from poverty. While there they are with their god giving hands and legs, and brains rotting away. The government, which should help encourage local ingenuity and champion industrialisation, are busy charging exorbitant entry fees for critical industries that the country needs desperately. Everything would continue to be very expensive if they are left in the hands of the foreign investors or few rich Nigerians, because they both deal in dollars and we deal in naira ($1 = #160). I wud appeal to the Nigerian institutions to set up useful guidelines for operating a legal business. Food for thought y'all

1) why does a nafdac licence cost >1000000 naira, where the minimum wage of a Nigerian person is 18000 naira. What this is saying is that a poor man can never and should never be involved in the food industry. Now does this law keep us safe, No it doesn't; instead it puts us at risk of our sons and daughters operating illegal food companies that are not regulated. It means one less avenue for the ingenious man to get out of poverty. It means the incompetent police have more avenue to extort poor citizens. It means shortage of food and increase in importation. It means higher prices on food and more suffering for the already poor masses. It means a more deficit balance of trade and a poorer country. And worst of all, it means that we are totally dependent on foreigners that hate us, and we have no control over our fate and future.

2) Why does an investor have to fork out >1000000 naira to get licence and registration for a small isp. The world is fast leaving us behind and our government is busy putting exorbitant levies on information technology. The importance of information technology in education and research, small, medium, and large business development cannot be overemphasised. It is high time the government deregulates industries and make revenue from tax and not licence fees. This is very simple to understand. I don't know why the learned Nigerian economists that advice our lawmakers and executives don't tell them these things.
there are more examples of government bureaucracies and fees that are hampering development in Nigeria. I bet there are also fees, instead of guidelines and safety controls, placed on operating small scale refineries in Nigeria. Bottom line, our government is a very lazy one. And the Nigerian citizenry is either plain dumb, or too complacent.

The effect of centralization.

ChinenyeN:

The effect of centralization.

what do u mean

pls kindly explain in the context of the post

thanks

Most of the industries in Nigeria should be deregulated and the exorbitant fees should be replaced with well articulated guidelines. That also goes for the petroleum industry. Those people refining oil should be given guidelines and encouraged to get licences. Those stealing oil should be punished. The government may put higher taxes because they using they are using our natural resources.
Food for thought
I wanted a licence for computer center in aba and was told to folk out 1000000 naira licence fee. Folks vsat connection doesn't even cost that much. So it means that more than 10% the cost setting up this business is for licence fee.

This is not a small feat. My Igbo brothers are too much o!

alj_harem:

what do u mean

pls kindly explain in the context of the post

thanks

Death to the private sector.

Since most of those involved in this so-called illegal refineries are from Niger Delta,I don't think FG needs to look any further on how to improve the lives of the teeming youths.They should fund loans for small scale refineries run by the youths and sell crude oil to them at international price.They should also be taken for a training and given guidelines on how to improve the quality of their products.