By Dayo Johnson, Akure

The Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base, FOB, Igbokoda, has destroyed five illegal refineries in Araromi seaside, Ilaje council area of Ondo State.

Commanding Officer, Forward Operating Base, Igbokoda, Navy Captain Wasuku Alushi, said this during a tour of the illegal refining sites.

Alushi said that the destroyed illegal refineries contained a total of 365,000 litres of crude oil.

Alushi said the move was in furtherance of the Nigerian Navy’s fight against crude oil theft and other related vices in the Niger Delta area, specifically in the Ilaje council area of the state.

“You will recall that a fortnight ago, the Chief of Naval Staff launched Operation Delta Sanity with the overall goal of intensifying the Nigerian Navy’s efforts to curb crude oil theft in the Niger Delta area to sanitise the environment.

“Operation Delta Sanity is basically to sanitise the entire Niger Delta from the menace of crude oil thieves, illegal refiners, cultism, and other related activities. Part of that mandate is why we are here today to dismantle this illegal refining site and render it inactive.

“We are here today based on credible intelligence; you can see that this is an illegal refining site. We are dismantling this site to prevent them from carrying out their nefarious activities and also to enlighten the public about the activities of these economic saboteurs to the nation.

“Inside the refining field, there are five different illegal refining ovens. Each of the ovens has a 33,000-litre refining capacity as a major refining operation, including two other 10,000-litre refining units. This implies that each of the ovens has a refining capacity of 83,000 litres of crude oil per day.

“They transport the illegally refined crude into these tanks, where they apply local technology.

“The principles of fractional distillation are what they apply basically in their crude way, and then at the end of it, they come up with illegally refined HGO, which they further transport, perhaps back through the sea, to where the market is.

“There is a network of pipes here; you can see most of the pipes are buried under the ground; they are connected from here up to the high sea, where at night this locally constructed boat called the Cotonou boat comes to lift these products for onward delivery from where the markets are.

“We came with welders and other resource persons that will help us dismantle this well-orchestrated network of engineering here perpetrated by these criminal elements, so we are here to dismantle this site basically to make it ineffective.

He added, “We also came with about six cylinders today. You can see that the site is quite vast; this is just one. We have three of these sites, so it will take us about 2 or 3 days to achieve them.

“We came with about 6 cylinders; going forward, we may have to increase the number of cylinders that we come here with.

According to him, “We intend to employ both kinetic and non-kinetic efforts towards achieving our objectives.

“Part of what we’re doing here today is the non-kinetic effort; the idea is that either we catch them at the point of stealing the crude oil or at the point of transporting it or at the point of refining it, so if we cannot get them on the ground, the strategy will also imply that we should dismantle their structures.

“It’s a network of crime that is highly organised, so part of our being here this afternoon is to apply one of the strategies that implies that if we cannot catch them at the point of stealing the crude oil, we should catch them at the point of refining or degrading their infrastructure, which is what we are doing.

He described the high network of engineering at the site as a very expensive venture, attributing it to bigger brains, otherwise known as sponsors, who invest their money illegally into the business, saying that they are an organised network of cartels.

“I think they are quite organised intellectually for them to be able to set up this kind of network, and I think if such knowledge is being transferred into some more productive venture that will benefit them more and perhaps benefit the general public more,” he stated.

He, however, appealed to the community leaders to carry out community sensitization to their wards and their children on the consequences of their actions on our common wealth and, of course, the criminal implications if they are arrested.

“I must confess to you that some of the community leaders have been forthcoming, and even our coming here today is based on credible intelligence based on what we have received, but we expect them to do more, both in terms of sensitization and perhaps an aggressive campaign to discourage their wards from getting themselves involved in this criminal venture.

“We will not relent in our efforts to ensure that we achieve our operational mandate given to us by the President under the renewed hope agenda, and we will continue to make sure that we are ahead of the criminal elements. Our message to them is that either they desist or they continue to incur our wrath. 

He advised those involved in the illegal ventures that “their time is over, and it will be in their interest to seek better ways of engaging themselves economically.

Alushi noted that “if they want to continue to pilfer our commonwealth and be involved in this nefarious act of pilfering our crude oil and coming to refining them illegally here and allow Nigeria to continue to incur huge losses, we shall continue to put them on high trauma.”