Rivers community begs FG for licence to operate refinery

By Davies Iheamnachor

PORT HARCOURT—The people of Wakirike in Okirika Local Government Area, Rivers State, have pleaded with the Federal Government to give them licence to operate modular refinery.

The people made the call, yesterday, in Okochiri, headquarters of Okirika Local Government Area of the state, during a sensitisation for youths tagged: ‘End the Sabotage, Save the Future,  Say no to Pipeline Vandalism and Oil Theft; Think Modular Refining: A New way to go,’ organised by Oil and Gas Surveillance Stakeholders Forum and Okirika LGA.

A chief in Okirika, Chief Tamuno Akaluogba, who represented the Chairman of Council of Chiefs in the area, Chief Amiesimaka Kala-Owolo, at the event, and the ex-Niger Delta agitator, Chief Ateke Tom, said Okirika was prepared to begin the operation of a modular refinery if the Federal Government gives them the opportunity.

Akaluogbo said  that the people of the area had suffered a great deal from oil exploration and that the Federal Government should reward them with the licence.

He said: “The people of Okirika request for a licence to operate our own modular refinery first from the Federal Government before other people started because we have suffered very much from oil impact.

“We have all it takes to build our own modular refinery. The Federal Government should approve it for the people of Okirika. Our chiefs, including Chief Ateke Tom, hate oil theft and illegal refining.  We are capable of operating it because we have all the required resources, if the Federal Government gives us the go ahead to build one.”

Akaluogbo, however, enjoined the Federal Government to call the security agencies in the state to order over poor handling of recovered stolen crude oil, stressing that such products should not be destroyed but returned to the refinery in the state for refining.

He said: “The Federal Government should tell the security operatives to always return stolen products to the refinery for refining. They should stop using it to pollute our environment further because they are causing harm to us.”

Meanwhile, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Okirika LGA, Mr. Wilson Alabere, has advised the Federal Government to give more opportunities to the people of Niger Delta region to operate the modular refineries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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