Emma Amaize
24 July 2012, Sweetcrude, WARRI — DELTA Ijaw Oil-Producing Areas Youth Assembly, DIOPAYA, Monday, called on the Federal Government to work in partnership with oil-bearing communities in the core Niger Delta states to guarantee security and success of the six modular refineries it planned to establish.
The group, in a statement signed by its president, Wuruyai Joseph and three others, said the oil-bearing communities were prepared to provide conducive environment for the investment, protect the refineries and provide total security of all workers, especially the expatriate staff.”
It, therefore, advised President Goodluck Jonathan not to politicise the locations of the modular refineries.
Commending the former chairman of Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, Chief Wellington Okirika, for spearheading the campaign for establishment of modular refineries, it said the six refineries should be located in areas where the raw materials were available.
“For the modular refineries initiative to be successful, it must be sited nearest to the raw materials (crude oil and natural gas) base and not pipeline areas with the increasing state of insecurity in some geo-political zones of the country and the sensitivity of such installations,” the statement said.
The group asserted that it had “critically reviewed the project and believed that it was not only achievable and sustainable, but would help to reduce the unending crude oil theft and bunkering that have assumed worrisome dimension”.
