By Zik Gbemre
With the recent development that the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company is now working and has been projected to hit 80 per cent of its installed capacity 125,000 bpd, after nine months of “phased rehabilitation conducted by its in-house engineers and technicians”, we consider this a huge and welcome development. There is nothing that propels any society to development than it having “the ability to refine its raw materials to satisfy domestic needs and meet export purposes”. The ‘economic and social benefits’ are too numerous to mention.
The oil city of Warri and environs will soon be back to life because of this development, which we believe was made possible to happen so quickly by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. Ever since the Buhari government came on board, things are beginning to look brighter for the nation. The Warri Refinery and all the other refineries across the country are beginning to come back to life.
These were the same refineries that were not working during the last administration of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. But just within the two months of the Buhari government, the refineries have started working. And the beauty about all of this is that the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) was done by Nigerian Engineers and technicians, after the original builders of the refineries, who were initially contacted for the turnaround maintenance of the plants, came up with ‘unfavourable terms’ as stated by the NNPC. The only thing we can deduce from all of this is the fact that former President Jonathan was never ‘in control’ of his administration. it was as if the former President was just there in Aso Rock and he allowed things to go seriously wrong in the Nigerian economy. And we all know the reasons why they never wanted our refineries to work; it is so for them to continue importing ‘refined petroleum products’ to satisfy domestic demands – which of course creates avenues for all manner of corrupt practices and outrageous profiteering in the energy sector by government officials, big oil marketers and their cronies in the industry. At the end of the day, it is the poor Nigerian citizenry that are made to bear the brunt of these anomalies. Well, thank God that things are gradually but steadily beginning to change.
To tell us how “penny wise pound foolish” the Nigerian government has been all these years before now; they prefer to ‘export’ our crude oil and natural gas at a cheaper price often determined by the international oil market, and at the same time ‘import’ the refined petroleum products at a higher price to satisfy domestic demands, so as to create room for subsidy that only satisfies those of them that are corrupt in government circles, in the system and the oil marketers. But tell me which is cheaper at the long run; to produce the crude and natural gas and refine same at home to satisfy domestic demands and then export still, Or to continue exporting our raw resources for others to refine, and for us to buy same at a higher price, leaving our refineries to remain moribund. This is not only encourages ‘capital flight’, plus corruption in the system. It also discourages growth of the Nigerian economy. Take the Warri Refinary for instance; there is a Trunk line that is supposed to be carrying crude oil from the Forcados Terminal to the refinery. But rather than use this channel of crude oil transportation, the corrupt elements in the system prefers to create contracts to hire vessels that will be transporting the said crude. This is just one of the sharp practices that are encouraged by the way the ‘system’ has been ‘conditioned’ to operate.
But if all our refineries are working, like the Warri Refinery is now working, and we have more than enough products to satisfy domestic demands, the issue of subsidy will not arise. This will also provide more employment opportunities and business for our people. Kerosene will now be easily available for our local women for their cooking, the ‘Keke man’ (commercial tricyclist) will now easily buy petrol (PMS) for his business, and so on. In fact, as our refineries are working, it will automatically ‘boost’ the economy and improve the living standards of our people to a ‘reasonable’ extent. The Warri Deport now has practically come back to life with all manner of business activities and petty trading just because the Warri refinery is working.
But even with our refineries now working, the Federal Government should not stop there. There is still much to do in this area so that Nigeria will no longer be dependent on the importation of refined petroleum products. We have suggested in countless occasions that the local content law should have provisions that will make it mandatory for international oil and gas companies and NPDC IOCs to refine at least, 50 percent of what they gather as natural gas and produce as crude oil in the country.
It is also imperative for the Buhari Government to take steps in this direction as suggested. That is, to compel the IOCs like Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria, Chevron, Mobil, NPDC of the NNPC, etc to build refineries and Plants alongside its current assets/facilities in the country to refine at least 50 per cent of its crude oil and natural gas produced in the country. Private indigenous oil and gas companies in the country should also be compelled to do same.
This will not only ensure the “transfer of technology” on the part of IOCs, it will also make IOCs to be more involved in refining petroleum products for domestic and export purposes, other than being only in the extractive industry for export of raw resources. All of this will bring about more industrialization and increased employment opportunities for the countless idle youths on our streets.
We believe the IOCs need to be more involved in the growth process of Nigeria’s economy other than focus solely on exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas for export. It might interest us to know that Royal Dutch Shell, for instance, currently has the largest Gas-To-Liquids Plant in the world in Ras Laffan industrial city, which is about 80km North of Doha, Qatar. Apart from producing diesel, petrol, and kerosene the said Plant is also producing base oils for top-tier lubricants; a chemical feedstock called naphtha used to make plastics and normal paraffin, which is used to make detergents as well. Why can’t Shell (SPDC) and other IOCs equally establish such Plants in Nigeria? What stops them from doing so? We cannot continue to sit and wait for crude oil/natural gas export revenues without taking practical steps to harness the “refining potentials” of these natural resources for the good of all.
Zik Gbemre
National Coordinator
Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC )
