Press Release: YEAC-NIGERIA COMMENDS FG FOR TAKING STEPS TO IMPLEMENT ITS PROPOSAL: PRESIDENTIAL ARTISANAL CRUDE OIL REFINING DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (PACORDI) WITH THE SETTING UP OF A COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE INITIATIVE
The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has commended the Federal Government for taking steps to implement its initiative, “Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI)” which proposes the modification, modernization, legalization, and integration of artisanal refineries into the national economy, by setting up a committee on August 16 headed by Amb. Gabriel Aduda, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, to review and propose the way forward.
It would be recalled that Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, the National Facilitator of Project with Artisanal Crude Oil Refiners for Modular Refineries in the Niger Delta and Executive Director of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), had on July 27, 2020, while responding to the establishment of the “Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI)” for illegal gold miners in parts of the North and Western Nigeria on July 20, 2020, developed and came up with the “Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) for establishment by the Federal Government as a corresponding initiative for artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta.
On the basis of the PACORDI proposal, among others, Senator Ita Enang, then S.A. to former President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, with relevant federal ministries and agencies organized two events in March 2021 and 2022 for the integration of artisanal refineries into the national economy with the Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface invited to address the national summits, and he spoke in person at the event held in Abuja-FCT in March 2022.
The latest move by the Federal Government titled “FG MOVES TO INTEGRATE ARTISANAL REFINERS INTO MAINSTREAM CRUDE OIL REFINING” published on the official Facebook Page of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on Friday August 18, 2023 after the inauguration of the Committee on August 16 comes after many continuous engagements by other stakeholders and presentations by Mr. Fyneface Dumnamene including the invitation to the 7th National Council on Hydrocarbons (NCH) in Minna, Niger State, in November 2022, and two other engagements and invitations for presentations at the federal ministry of Petroleum Resources in February and April 2023 respectively on both PACORDI and Modular Refineries for artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta.
In a statement by YEAC-Nigeria in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, on Friday, August 18, signed by its Executive Director, Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, the organization commends and appreciates President Bola Tinubu, GCRF for directing the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to review and chat the way forward to legalize and integrate artisanal refineries into mainstream crude oil refineries operations, which are in tandem with the of PACORDI by YEAC-Nigeria.
Mr. Fyneface also congratulates the various stakeholders, including Senator Ita Enang, Amb. Gabriel Aduda, and all others who worked tirelessly for this initiative to see the light of the day, and he urged other critical stakeholders to key into the processes for a collective solution to the issues associated with artisanal refineries as an organised crime in the Niger Delta, Nigeria and even the Gulf of Guinea.
Mr. Fyneface uses the opportunity of this latest development on PACORDI to call on artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta to stop pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, artisanal refineries, and associated environmental pollution pending the legalization and integration of artisanal refinery activities into mainstream crude oil refining operations.
FYNEFACE DUMNAMENE FYNEFACE,
Executive Director, YEAC-Nigeria.
August 18, 2023.