Tinubu urged to revitalise modular refinery initiative to reduce rising fuel price.

From Cyril Mbah, Abuja.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has been advised to review the modular refinery initiative proposed by the immediate past government by removing administrative impediments that discourage investment in the sector.

A retired Director at the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology (NARICT), Engineer Abbas Abubakar Gummi said modular refineries have the capacity and potential to lead the country out of the crisis caused by the removal of fuel subsidy by helping to reduce to rising cost of imported petrol.

Engineer Abbas, a son to late Shiekh Abubakar Gummi, the former Grand Khadi of Northern Nigeria, remarked in an interview that serious investors are scared of pumping money into the modular refinery initiative due to crippling regulatory policies and administrative bottlenecks that render the business risky and unattractive.

He remarked that local production of petrol through modular methods will help crash the cost of the product and while pointing out that Niger Delta indigenes have long perfected the crude oil refining process, Abbas said rather than criminalising their activities and calling them oil bunkerers, government should organise, train and incorporate them into the system to become the pioneers of local oil production process.

His words: “People in the Niger Delta are producing diesel from mere drums in a crude format. This means that the technology for cheaper, quicker and increased production of petrol is already available. The Ahmad Bello University has also invented a micro-refinery system which produces some drums of fuel.

“If people in the Niger Delta are producing diesel from crude technology, why are the research agencies not interested in helping to develop facilities to produce at least 1000 barrels of oil per day modular refineries locally to help legitimise the indigenous technologies in the Niger Delta and positively impact on the demand and supply factor within the country?

“Government treats the local crude manufacturers as criminals and tag them oil bunkerers but some of us see them as innovative citizens who are trying to solve serious economic challenges in the country. We must review the perception of these resourceful people, revisit the crippling regulatory policies and other restrictions around the modular refinery initiative to attract investors to the sector.

“What I am recommending is that our research institutes should pioneer and drive the process of creating indigenous technologies for modular refineries. The government at one time brought up the idea of creating marginal fields which serves as locations for oil reserviours that are not economically exportable.

“We can have modular refineries around such areas to refine fuel for domestic use and address the problems of demand and supply. These are workable innovations and proposals that would address other issues such as providing employment, increasing energy supply, reducing rising fuel price among others but these things are being frustrated by powerful forces in and outside the government circles due to vested interests. Policy inconsistency has always been the major factor in shooting down good proposals,” Engineer Abbas said.

The retired director also called for proper funding, supervision and motivation of the nation’s numerous research institutes to make them productive, viable, profitable and economically sustainable.

Hear him: “National research institutes are a vital aspect of governance but these outfits have not met expectations in Nigeria due to improper funding and the inability of the institutes to look outside the box for innovative ways to excel. Many of them have poor orientation. Although funding from government has not been sufficient, the institutes only pay salaries without exploring ways to make their systems profitable and result-oriented.

“Research can bring money into the country because anything new that are useful must be in high demand. Our research institutes should have been among the billion dollar industries, like those overseas, by turning innovations into finished products for the markets.

“This is lacking even though government spends more than N26 billion annually on salaries of staff engaged by the research agencies that generate nothing in terms of revenue for the nation. I raised this issue with a minister, when I was in service but I was misunderstood and the fundamental problem remained even today as we speak. Until these issues are addressed, we will continue to have research institutes on paper that are unproductive year in, year out.

” Government must challenge our research institutes because nothing will change except they are challenged and given targets. President Kennedy challenged American scientists to land a man on the moon during the space race between the USA and the Soviet Union and it was achieved with dispatch. Nigerian research institutes are not productive because government dies not challenge them with clear targets. Instead of challenging the agencies, the political class, who hold the resources are wasting fortunes to grab political offices not to render service to the people but for the glamour, the aura and financial opportunities that political office provides.”

On the policy direction expected from the new administration to drive industrialisation, research and development, Engineer Abbas said social needs should be allowed to determine the policies even as he regretted that Nigerian leaders allowed the country to reach the point where everything has collapsed while being busy investing so much energy, resources, attention and time on politics.

He said a fraction of the resources wasted on politics would have turned Nigeria into a global giant in industries and revolutionise the country to compete favourably with other advanced economies like China and Japan among others.

“If we invest the huge amount of money spent by politicians on providing reliable power supply alone, Nigeria would have been a big player among the advanced economies of the world like Dubai and other sectors would have benefitted positively from the presence of steady electricity.

“Gas flaring should have stopped long ago but we are not thinking seriously about how to use the gas for productive ventures. Corruption has also been the major hindrance to development in many sectors. There is serious disconnect between intellectualism, resources availability and application in Nigeria. Many countries come to Nigeria to obtain gas and other resources to refine for their use but we are busy flaring gas and polluting the environment.

“The new administration should also promote renewable energy using the numerous dams constructed by the river basin authorities but were abandoned in several parts of the country. Many of the dams came with small hydro-power facilities that have not been put to use since installation several years ago. These projects have been abandoned because the major focus of our leaders has always been how to win the next election and not how to provide development for the people. It is unfortunate that politicians have allowed politics to cripple Nigeria and I think the major blame should go to the system of governance adopted and left behind by previous leaders. The American system of democracy sucks a lot of money. It is very expensive to maintain and should not have been adopted the way it is. I would recommend that we should study the Japanese system of governance and adopt their attitude where everyone works for the common good of the country. Our values must change before we can move forward as a nation,” Engineer Abbas said.