The discovery of crude oil in 1956 at Oloibiri, in present day Bayelsa State, placed Nigeria among top exporters of crude oil in the world. Even though it remains difficult to quantify the number of barrels of crude oil extracted in the country on a daily basis, the official figures we have are, at best, guesstimates. When things are very good, Nigeria produces about 2.2 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Sadly, however, rather than being a blessing, this natural endowment of liquid black gold appears to have turned out to be a curse to Nigeria, as the oil-rich Niger Delta continues to thrive in abject poverty due to oil theft and mass pollution of the environment occasioned by oil spillages, legal and illegal oil refining and, recently, destruction of illegal (artisanal) refineries by government’s Special Joint Task Force, with serious ecological, environmental and human impact. Several communities across the Niger Delta region where oil-related activities are carried out have suffered damages to their farmlands, the forests and water sources. Pollution from illegal refineries in Aviele community in Edo North has impacted negatively on sections of rice fields in the community, as rice farmers now experience poor and reduced yield.

According to the renowned environmental activist, Nnimmo Bassey, director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, the sudden rise in bush refineries in recent years could be traced to lack of employment opportunities for the teeming youths and the destruction of natural livelihood opportunities in the oil-producing communities. These are people who could have engaged in farming or fishing, who could have gotten jobs one way or the other but now don’t have any opportunities.

One of the bush refineries

“The second cluster of reason is the fact that in those oil fields where the crude is being mined you don’t always have access to petroleum products. If you go to the coastal area of the Niger Delta, you find very few outlets where you could buy petrol or diesel, and where you can find them, they are far more expensive than what you find in the cities. So there’s always a ready market for any product that could be used to run their boats and run their generators and businesses, and so the bush refineries have stepped in to fill the gap,” Bassey said.

Executive Director of African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, David Ugolor, is also of the opinion that destruction of the environment, which is largely responsible for the livelihood of the people through seismic activities and oil exploration, is largely responsible for the advent of illegal bush refineries. He noted that even in view of its dangerous nature and the fact that their environment has been completely destroyed, these people have to survive. For instance, the streams and rivers where they go to fish to have access to proteins have been polluted. This has been confirmed by the scientific report carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP.

“Sixty to 80 per cent of the people of the Niger Delta depend on farming. But because of oil exploration, the major forests and vegetation have been badly destroyed as a result of seismic activities. People no longer have access to things that could sustain their lives,” Ugolor said.

A graphic description of operation of bush refinery reveals the inherent risk in the whole process. A bush refinery is a simple modular contraption, SMC. It is made of a large, galvanised drum which holds the crude oil and another galvanised tank resting on palm tree trunks raised higher than the larger tank, into which vaporised refined product is channelled into through a pipe.

Operating a bush refinery is one dangerous venture altogether, in which some of the operators have allegedly lost their lives in the process. Imagine the scenario: The larger drum holding the crude oil lies on combustible materials, drenched in petrol which is set alight from a considerable distance by somebody holding a fire touch tied to a long stick. Some of these people have allegedly died from explosions and radiation from the huge balls of fire which engulfs the tank and keep burning throughout the refining process.

The dangerous effects to the operators, the environment, the soil and animal population in the environment are apparent from this simple description of a bush refinery. This accounts for the notable depletion of vegetation wherever they thrive as a result of the intense heat from the fire and the oil, especially when such refineries are being destroyed by burning.

Commenting on the negative effects of destroying these bush refineries and their products on the environment and on humans, Bassey said, “These bush refineries are actually very poisonous to their own environments also because they are neither regulated nor standardised. They burn crude oil in the open, releasing massive amounts of dangerous chemical elements into the atmosphere, poisoning communities who live them, directly impacting negatively on the environment around them.