Skip to main content

Host communities, foreign investors plan 10 refineries


hostcom briefing: From left— National Director, Clergymen of Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, HOSTCOM, Primate Dr. Moses Ogbodogbo; National Chairman, Prince Mike Emuh; Edo State Chairman, HOSTCOM, Prince Sam Igbineweka, and Bayelsa State Chairman, HOSTCOM, Chief Bob Nabena, at the briefing on modal refineries, oil pipeline surveillance and gas flaring, in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: Gbemiga Olamikan. From left— National Director, Clergymen of Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, HOSTCOM, Primate Dr. Moses Ogbodogbo; National Chairman, Prince Mike Emuh; Edo State Chairman, HOSTCOM, Prince Sam Igbineweka, and Bayelsa State Chairman, HOSTCOM, Chief Bob Nabena, at the briefing on modal refineries, oil pipeline surveillance and gas flaring, in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: Gbemiga Olamikan. Oil producing communities in the country, under the auspices of the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas, HostCom, yesterday, disclosed that they have entered into an agreement with a number of foreign investors from Germany, United States of America among others, to build 10 modular refineries in Nigeria.



This is an improvement on its initial plan to build a single modular refinery in one of the oil-producing states.
Speaking at its national conference in Abuja, Mr. Mike Emuh, National Chairman, HostCom, said that funding for the 10 modular refineries would be provided solely by the foreign investors, while the refineries would be constructed in all oil-producing states.
He, however, blamed the delay in the commencement of the project on issues surrounding licensing and cost and sources of crude oil supply to the refineries.
Need for licence
He said: “We are, therefore, calling on the Federal Government to grant our foreign partners licenses and all necessary cooperation for the smooth take off of these modular refineries that will be financed wholly by our foreign partners.”
Emuh further bemoaned the continuous flaring of gas by oil companies in the country, stating that HostCom has, therefore, issued a 30-day ultimatum to all international oil companies, IOCs, operating in the country to stop gas flaring or face the wrath of the communities.
He lamented the fact that Nigeria still ranks among countries with the highest rate of gas flaring in the world, while Federal Government had shown lack of commitment in addressing the issue.
He stated that oil and gas prospecting companies in the country had stopped paying penalties for gas flaring since 2008, while the Federal Government is yet to remit about N1.3 trillion gas flare penalty in the coffers of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to host communities.
Demand gas flaring money
To this end, Emuh called on all oil and gas companies in the country to immediately commence the remittance of their gas flare penalties to the accounts of HostCom.
He said: “We are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to instruct CBN to release the accumulated gas flare money that belongs to HostCom paid by IOCs through the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR.
“To this end, we hereby advise all oil and gas prospecting companies in Nigeria to resume payment of the gas flaring penalty levy that has been stopped since 2008, directly to HostCom account immediately.
“Furthermore, we give a 30-day ultimatum to all IOCs to stop gas flaring nationwide forthwith or face the consequences.”
Emuh also called on the Federal Government to cede oil pipeline surveillance to host communities, as this will help check oil theft, bunkering, illegal refineries and pipeline vandalization.
He said: “Host communities are the owners of the oil and gas and we know the people who vandalize the pipelines.
“We know those who lift the oil from the vessel; we know those who operate these illegal refineries. The only solution is to give it to the host communities; our boys will take care of it.”

Credit: Vanguard

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DEFECTIONS: Why Saraki, Dogara Others Must Heed Sen. Ibrahim's Call by Comrade Nwokoma Ndubuisi M.

The gale of defections in the National Assembly last week was followed by an advice from no one else than Sen. Abu Ibrahim that the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki as well as the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara and others in the fold of the All Progressives Congress APC that are still masquerading in the party should resign their membership of the party. This call which also implies that they resign their positions as leaders of the various arms of the National Assembly is yet to be complied with by those concerned as at the time of writing this piece Whatever their reasons for still staying put in the party may be, the fact of the matter is that their continued stay in the party has become a sore which must be extricated from the body.  As I watched through the proceedings of the defections on national television, I wept for the country for producing such leaders that lack morality despite all the party has given them politically which they ordin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rivers Governmnet, PDP Disagree Over $280 million Looan

The Rivers State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party in the state are currently at loggerheads over the request by the state Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, for a $280m loan for water and sanitation projects. While the state PDP said that the latest request for loan by the state government was unnecessary due to the resources accruing to the state through the federal allocation and internally generated revenue, the government said it was not true that the funds were to be used for 2015 elections. The state House of Assembly had on Monday endorsed Amaechi’s request for loan for water supply and sanitation projects. But the state PDP, in a statement, signed by the Special Adviser to its Chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam, said the request for loan was aimed at punishing the governor’s successor in 2015. The party called on members of the House of Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the African Development Bank and the World Bank not to honour the loan re...
Post a Comment
Read more

2019: Northern youths kick as Northwest APC lawmakers endorse Buhari

The leadership of the Arewa Youth Forum on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari does not deserve any endorsement for the 2019 presidency. Reacting to a purported endorsement by some serving All Progressives Congress’s lawmakers from the Northwest in Kaduna, the AYF’s National President, Alhaji Gambo Gujungu, said Buhari was not fit to return as president in 2019. The AYF argued that with the killing spree all over the country, especially in the North, Buhari should serve his mandatory four years term and quit the stage for another Northerner. Gujungu noted that one sour point about President Buhari’s 2019 ambition was his claim that the killings across the country were being carried out by “desperate politicians”, yet he had not arrested even a single suspect. The AYF president, therefore, said Nigerians should blame the president for the attacks on innocent citizens. The AYF boss who spoke to our correspondent on phone on Monday, said the President’s cl...
Post a Comment
Read more