The Governor of Delta
State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has advocated the establishment of mini
refineries to decrease the level of pipeline vandalism in the country.
According to
Governor Okowa, establishing mini refineries in different areas of the Niger
Delta area would ensure that the 450, 000 barrels of crude oil meant for local
consumption are refined locally.
The Governor was
speaking when the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Petroleum
Resources, Effurun (FUPRE), Prof. Akii Ibhadode paid him a courtesy call today
(20/08/15) at Asaba, emphasised that all avenues to reduce illegal refining of
petroleum products and pipeline vandalism must be harnessed.
He said, “we look
forward to having effective and efficient mini refineries so that our people
will be better encouraged to follow due process in refining petroleum products,
rather than vandalizing our pipelines and seek to get crude from the local provisions
that NNPC provides on a daily basis for refining".
Senator Okowa
added "am aware that at the moment about 450,000 barrels are supposed to
be left locally for the purpose of refining, but because we have not been able
to attain an efficient process of refining our products, they will not be able
to approach NNPC in any manner to be part of the companies that utilize the
450,000 barrels".
The Governor who
commended FUPRE for its efforts towards producing mini refineries, asserted,
“it is good to hear that the University of Petroleum Resources is doing
something towards having micro and mini refineries, unfortunately, our people
approached the whole process of crude refining in a crude manner and rather
than getting the crude oil from appropriate sources, they have undertaken to
vandalising our pipelines and that has not helped us as a state, it has not
helped us as a nation and we pray every day that our people will be a little
bit more understanding and realise that even if they want to go through the act
of downstream development sector, it should be through legal means.”
Governor Okowa
used the occasion to challenge institutions of higher learning in the country
to ensure that their products are technically equipped to be self-reliant,
decrying situations where students are after “paper certificate rather than
acquiring technical skills.”
He assured
management of FUPRE of government assistance to enable them to function
effectively, observing that the country was facing economic challenges as a
result of the dwindling revenue from oil and gas sector.
Earlier, Prof.
Ibhadode commended Governor Okowa for the giant strides recorded by his
administration within the few months of his being in office saying that the
visit to his office was to intimate him of the activities of FUPRE which
include the development of micro refineries that are effective and can be used
in different locations of the country.
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