VC Urges FG To Implement Policy On Modular Refineries

The Vice Chancellor of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Prof Okechukwu Onuchukwu has called on the Federal Government to show fairness to the people of the Niger Delta by going ahead to implement the policy on modular refineries as a way of encouraging economic growth, employment generation and increased productivity in the country.
He made the call while delivering a keynote address titled: “Insecurity and Economic Development in Nigeria”, during the memorial lecture organised by the Ikwerre Doctors’ Forum (IDF) at the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) House, East-West Road, Port Harcourt.
As a professor of economics, he opined that Nigerian Government has all it takes to take up the challenge of training Niger Delta youths who were willing and available to take up the artisan refinery project to make them useful to the society.
He recalled that it was by far better than using collective resources to pay for fuel subsidy which has never improved the economy but has become a mirage.
Onuchukwu said that it would be better to apply subsidy at the production stage as against the government’s decision to apply it at the consumption level.
“Subsidy is better in production than in consumption. Our boys are carrying arms, getting involved in societal vices. However, some have been found themselves into artisan refinery. If you try to find out how much our government has put in fighting crimes, you would see the reason to apply economic policies to salvage the system.
“Why can’t we refine our oil by ourselves? Why can’t we queue up and improve on our livelihoods? Why can’t we stop the western economic patronage and build what is exactly ours to be managed by ourselves?”
He maintained that we experience bad government because those who mount the office of leadership of the country were corrupt, and wondered why some ethnic groups were made to look superior to others.
The university lecturer compared the gold that is being mined in Zamfara State to the oil in the Niger Delta, and maintained that the Federal Government has never been fair to the people of the Niger Delta.
He sued for an all-inclusive policy on fairness for all Nigerians irrespective of their ethnic group or region.
“I am not saying that ‘Kpo fire’ is the best but I am saying that we can improve upon what the boys are doing. There must be a conscious effort to improve on what they are doing. We can put them into co-operatives, hence improve on it.”
On the contrary, the President General of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisation Worldwide, Prof Emenike Wami, condemned, in totality, the idea of modular refineries and that of “Kpo fire”, and maintained that both were never better options and should not be one.
According to him, the Nigerian Government has no better option than to build and maintain standard refineries for optimum production.
He was reacting while responding to questions from journalists who were at the event.
Wami argued that crude oil production was by far better in larger quantities than in smaller quantities, and warned that anyone trying to experiment crude oil production through the establishment of modular refineries for small scale production was making a grave mistake.
“Kpo fire’ is not viable option and modular refinery is also not viable. Both are not the answer to the problem. I am a petroleum engineer by profession with over 40 years standing. I am telling you that both are not viable options because it is not economical to refine petroleum in a small quantity. If you refine one barrel of crude oil using ‘kpo fire,’ you will not get N10 profit. The way forward is for the Federal Government to build and maintain or rehabilitate our refineries,” he maintained.