The Independent Association of Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN) has called on the federal government to harness indigenous technology to address Nigeria’s oil refining challenges.
Chinedu Anyaso, Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Depot Community in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu states, said this in an interview in Awka on Tuesday while congratulating the newly sworn ministers.
Mr. Anyaso praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for successfully constituting his cabinet and expressed optimism that the ministers would bring more value and direction to his administration.
He especially congratulated Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum, on his appointment, urging him to bring his experience in the oil industry and his knowledge of the Niger Delta environment to influence the downstream sector.
The IPMAN official said that only the local production of petroleum derivatives will bring lasting solutions to the country’s energy challenges.
He said the federal government should profile illegal refinery operators and open talks with them to take advantage of their core technology and operations.
According to him, the current state of the downstream sector is unsustainable and the lack of refining capacity makes it worse.
“I hope part of the federal government’s immediate plan is to get our local refineries up and running by repairing the four existing refineries and encouraging the establishment of modular refineries.
“The new Minister of State for Petroleum, who is from the Niger Delta, should encourage the government to bring the operators of the illegal refineries in the streams into the national grid.
“Instead of persecuting them and destroying their infrastructure, the government should call on them to be part of the solution, at least in the short term while we wait for the main refineries to resume operations. This will reduce the pressure on currencies,” he said.
Anyaso said the federal government should consider IPMAN’s call to use its compressed natural gas network for faster implementation of the power switch.
He said there must be immediate and massive conversion plants in all 36 states to allow users of cars and generators to convert them to gasoline engines.
(YAYA)
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