Niger Delta communities source investors for modular refineries

Communities in the Niger Delta region have taken the lead in efforts to take advantage of the federal government’s plan to develop modular refineries.

Already at a meeting on Thursday at the Presidency, a delegation of representatives from the Gbaramatu Kingdom met with the Vice President Yemeni Osinbajo on the issue.

According to a statement released by Laolu Akande, a senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, office of the vice president, the representatives came with a group of US investors.

At the meeting, the Vice President noted that the modular refineries to be established will have to be profitable and realistic in order to address critical issues bothering on the development of the region on a sustainable basis.

He added that the Federal Government is committed to addressing challenges in the Niger Delta in a comprehensive manner.

The vision of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for oil-producing communities will give them opportunity to work with the government and private sector to develop modular refineries in the area.

The vision, which is targeted to serve as a panacea to illegal refineries in the region, was one of the highlights of the inter-ministerial meeting on the Niger Delta on Thursday, presided over by Prof Osinbajo.

Akande’s statement revealed that under the plan that is being developed, “communities would come together working with their respective state governments, the Federal Government and private sector operators to work out a template for the establishment of modular refineries in the communities.

“We are saying there is a way out of violent agitation, but it is by creating opportunities and the environment where the people in the communities can benefit,” Osinbajo said at the inter-ministerial meeting which is the second such meeting in the past few weeks working out how best to establish the modular refineries.

According to him, “we will engage them on the basis of trust, we must prove to them that we are trust-worthy.”

At the inter-ministerial meeting attended by the deputy governor of Delta State, Barrister Kingsley Otuoro; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uhuru; Petroleum Resources Minister of State, Dr Ibe Kachikwu; Environment Minister of State; Mallam Ibrahim Usman Jibril, issues as developments on the planning for the Maritime University, update on contractors in the Niger Delta region returning to site and Amnesty issues among others were also discussed.

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