Following the renewed controversies surrounding the return of queues at our filling stations and subsidy regime in the country, there are indications that the federal government is yet to devise a workable formula for the removal of fuel subsidy.
Though the federal government had assured Nigerians that there is no need to panic during this Easter celebrations, but the lingering fuel scarcity no doubt has caused many to doubt if all is well in the oil sector.
However, there are some situations that we can control, but it is sad that some people disgustingly allow them to go on because they are benefiting from it. Take for instance, the situation in the Niger Delta region where God has endowed with so much wealth. The goose that lay the golden egg, yet suffering from abject poverty and squalor in the midst of so much wealth.
The natives in the oil producing communities have been impoverished all these years since crude oil was discovered in Oloibiri in Rivers state. The vast swamp land and creeks where oil exploitation has been carried out by multinational oil companies are no more the same. The farming and fishing communities have been left desolate. Their rivers are polluted and vegetation destroyed and nothing good can come out of the area.
We witnessed the emergence of vibrant young men as militants agitating for resource control. They were later pacified by the government after being settled with amnesty. But this has not however improved the plight of the natives whose conditions still remain pathetic.
This situation amongst others led to the setting up of illegal refineries by the natives in the creeks of the Niger Delta, using the crude stolen from vandalized pipelines in the region. For the past two decades, the discoveries of illegal refineries have been on the increase, an indication that for as long as the nation’s refineries cannot be fully operational, such illegal outfits will continue to thrive.
The irony is that even when we boast of being an oil producing nation, we still have to depend on imported refined oil products for local consumption, because our refineries are not functioning the way they should.
We are often told that the nation’s refineries are not operating in full capacity despite the several billions of the nations resources sunk into turn-around maintenance in the past.
It is time we ask ourselves, what is the problem or who is the cause of our failure to have refineries functioning in full capacity? Why do we still have to import refined products when we can conveniently refine our God gifted crude? In fact, who do we hold responsible for the predicament Nigerians are passing through today.
These questions have become necessary because we have seen that illegal refineries are in business in the creeks while the so called legal refineries in Kaduna, Porthcourt and Warri are yet to run at full capacity to put and end to the lingering scarcity and apologetic stories we are getting from that sector.
Investigations have revealed that the illegal refineries are successfully refining products and they are thriving well even though their methods may be crude. In the same vein, if the illegal refineries are not doing very well, our security agencies will not be busy searching for them and destroying their operations on frequent basis. It is the view of some concerned persons that their expertise should be used for the benefit of the nation.
The government should be able to convert the illegal refineries to legal because it does not make economic sense when such illegal refineries are destroyed.
We quite understand that these set of people apprehended are economic saboteurs to the nation but they are still useful if they can successfully operate a refinery while the nation is struggling with the once they built.
It is the expectation of Nigerians that the problem the country is now experiencing in the oil industry should give our leaders serious cause for concern and President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the minister for petroleum, should take a critical look at this issue.
Eubaldus Enahoro is Deputy Editor with the Nigerian Observer.
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