• ABU expresses readiness to assist

Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Millard Dikio (rtd), has warned against the activities of informal operators of modular refineries in the Niger-Delta region, saying Nigeria will face severe consequences if urgent and systematic steps are not taken to halt it.

He explained that the domestic refining of crude oil by artisans in host communities had grave health and environmental implications for the country.

The amnesty boss gave this warning at the ongoing second edition of the stakeholders’ engagement on the integration of modular/artisanal refinery operations in the oil and gas sector in Abuja.

The event is organised by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger-Delta Affairs with the theme, ‘Current Challenges of Revenue Loss, Petroleum Product Scarcity, Environmental Pollution and Negotiated Way-Out’.

Dikio also encouraged stakeholders to set aside their differences and support efforts to save not only the environment but also the country’s economy.

He said, “We cannot seek to make money by all means. We cannot destroy our environment, because we want to make it.

“There are problems with artisanal refining. These activities have serious health and environmental implications, but which is the way forward? We all need to put our heads and hands together to so solve these problems.”

MEANWHILE, worried by impacts of environmental degradation on agricultural productivity and land infertility in the Niger Delta region, the management of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria has expressed its readiness to assist the Federal Government in tackling the menace in the region.

ABU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kabiru Bala, who made this known, yesterday, in Abuja during a courtesy visit to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Babayo Ardo, assured that the varsity had the expertise in the areas of infrastructure and environmental development that would bring to bear in the discharge of the responsibilities of the ministry.

Bala, who disclosed the varsity’s plans to go into partnership with the Ministry and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) for socio-economic development of the region and Nigeria at large, maintained that the school has a lot of human resources to help in achieving the objectives of the ministry and the NDDC.