The House of Representatives has urged the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to study and articulate a regulatory legal framework to integrate artisanal refiners into the formal crude oil production value chain.
Moving the motion during Thursday’s plenary session, Mr Ozodinobi criticised the government for its failure to harness the potential of artisanal refiners, stating that the Nigerian constitution mandates the government to harness the nation’s resources.
“Lives and revenues have been lost due to the government’s inability to recognise, regulate, and control artisanal refining of petroleum products, which has been prevalent in the Niger Delta region for decades,” he said.
Speaking further he said: “After seven decades of massive devastation and environmental degradation of the Niger Delta and its ecosystem, policymakers are still oblivious to the urgent need to encourage artisanal refining and lay a foundation for local technology that could lift us from energy poverty.
“The demonisation of indigenous artisanal refiners as ‘oil thieves’ and the deployment of the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies to destroy artisanal refineries in an unprofessional manner further degrades the environment, which sustains the energy needs of communities in the Niger Delta,” he said.
The motion was adopted without debate, and the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Ben Kalu, mandated the Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream, Upstream, and Midstream) and Local Content to ensure compliance and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
The contributions of artisanal refining outweigh its negative impacts, if the government can make more effort to regulate, guide and encourage the development of artisanal refining and to create a sound environment for its operations as was done in some former underdeveloped now developing/developed nations.
