By Obiabin Onukwugha
No fewer than five persons have lost their lives following an explosion at an illegal refinery site in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area of Rivers State.
The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) made this known in a report made available to NatureNews in Port Harcourt on Sunday.
According to the report, the incident occured at a storage in a building used to store the illegally refined products in the late hours of Saturday.
“The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has received and confirmed reports of an explosion and fire incident at a storage of illegally refined petroleum product in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of Rivers State.
“The inferno is said to have occurred in a house where people purchased and stored illegally refined petroleum products including condensate for resale in the area.
“Members of the Advocacy Centre youth volunteers network under the auspices of the One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta in ONELGA told the Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface that the incident occurred in the late hours of Saturday, April 26 by about 11AM, killing five persons, four females and one male burnt beyond recognition”, the report read in part.
While calling for investigation into the incident, the Advocacy Centre warned residents and youths against involvement in pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, artisanal refineries and trading in illegally refined petroleum products including home storage to avoid ugly incidents of this nature.
The group renewed its call on the federal government to legalise artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta through the establishment of its July 27, 2020 proposed Presidential Artisanal Crude Oil Refining Development Initiative (PACORDI) and/or Modular Refineries for artisanal Refiners in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region to mitigate incidents of this nature.