Federal Government to consider implementing the policy on Modular Refineries — Prof. Onuchukwu
Federal Government to consider implementing the policy on Modular Refineries — Prof. OnuchukwuBy Amaike Ihuoma Okoronkwo Port Harcourt
The Vice Chancellor of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Professor Okechukwun Onuchukwu has called on the Federal Government to show fairness to the people of the Niger Delta region by going ahead to implement the policy on modular refineries as a way of encouraging economic growth, employment generation and increase productivity in our nation. He made the call why 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 on Thursday the 21st April 2022.
As a professor of economics, he opined that Nigerian Government has all it takes to take up the challenge of training the Niger Delta Youths who are willing and available to take up the artisan refinery project to make them useful to our society.
He recalled that it is by far better than using collective resources to pay for fuel subsidy which has never improved the economy but has become a mirage and as a university teacher would prefer to apply subsidy at the production stage as against the government 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 but however has found some of them 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 livelihood? 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 our great country are corrupt and wondered why some ethnic groups are made to look superior to others. He 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 Region and sued for an all inclusive policy on fairness for all Nigerians irrespective of their ethnic group or region. “I am not saying that ‘kporfire’ is the best but am saying that we can improve upon what the boys are doing. There must be a cautious effort to improve on what they are doing, we can put them into co-operatives hence improve on it.”
On the contrary, Professor Emenike Wami the President General of Ogbakor Ikwerre Cultural Organisations Worldwide has condemned in totality the idea of modular refineries and that of “Kporfire” and maintained that both are never better option and should not be one. According to him, the Nigerian Government has no better option than to build and maintain our refineries for optimum production. He was reacting while responding to questions from journalists who were at the event. He argued that crude production is by far better in larger quantities than in smaller quantities and warned that anyone trying to experiment crude production through the establishment of modular refineries for small scale production is making a grave mistake. “Kporfire’ 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 over forty years standing and I am telling you that both are not viable options because it is economical to refine petroleum in a small quantity. If you refine one barrel of crude oil using ‘kporfire,’ you will not get ten naira profit. The way forward is for the federal government to build and maintain or rehabilitate our refineries,” he maintained.
