“The process of the bush refineries is highly polluting, their environments are extremely messy. It is unimaginable that Nigerians will work is such environments just for economic survival. It is something that ought to be addressed in a very decisive way.”

The federal government in efforts to check the economic loss suffered by the country to oil theft and bush refineries, set up the special military JTF, code named Operation Pulo Shield, to put these economic saboteurs out of business in the Niger Delta region. There is no gainsaying that the hard work of the JTF has resulted in drastic reduction of these illegal bush refineries across the states of the Niger Delta.

Media Coordinator of Operation Pulo Shield, Lt. Col. Mustapha Anka, in an interview, noted that this nefarious act became “widespread due to the activities of militants who blow up pipelines and other oil facilities releasing thousands of barrels of crude oil into the environment.”

He said the problem continued until the Federal Government decided, in August 2003, to establish the Joint Task Force Operation Restore Hope, which transmuted to Operation Pulo Shield in January 2012, after the amnesty granted the Niger Delta militants by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration.

•Another illegal refinery

According to him, despite the huge successes recorded by the task force, the problem is still occurring in states of the Niger Delta region. But the fight continues. Investigation revealed that the JTF carried out over 1,025 anti-illegal oil bunkering patrols in the year 2013, during which no fewer than 1,857 suspected oil thieves were arrested and 1,951 illegal refineries destroyed. The outfit also impounded 81 barges, 1,117 Cotonou boats, 82 tanker trucks and 1,873 surface tanks, 39,760 drums of illegally refined petroleum products, 570 pumping machines and 75 outboard motor engines used as equipment to facilitate oil theft. Also, 46 vessels of various sizes and capacities were arrested during the period.

Among methods employed in the destruction of illegal refineries are the use of swamp buggy in places where the criminals flee, which the JTC spokesman agreed are likely to be hazardous to the health of the people and the environment.

Kessington Obahiagbon, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Benin, noted that the level of pollution in the Niger Delta is so high because of the prevalence of these bush refineries. He said apart from the health implications, there is the problem of global warming and climate change due to the release of carbon dioxide which, in a way, also depletes the ozone layer. There are also other very poisonous gases that are released during the process of the refining.

“Of course we have some form of crude oil that may contain sulphur. We have hydrogen sulphate gas, sulphur 4 oxide gases. And when these things are liberated into the atmosphere, they get deposited in the atmosphere and when it rains, they come back to us as acid rain. And when you say acid rain, it also reflects on the rate of corrosion on vehicles. Under such environments, crops will not thrive, the soil becomes depleted in nutrients, because the soil is now covered up, there will be no penetration of oxygen, which means even earthworms and other tiny organisms that help nourish the soil will all die. Also, if there’s any river around the environment, it will get polluted and the fishes in such a river are killed. The aquatic life is also in danger,” Obahiagbon said.

He said the fact that the preoccupation of the people in the riverine area is fishing, means that while operators of bush refineries are trying to satisfy their greed, they are indirectly engaging in self-destruction when they end up polluting the environment, destroying the ecosystem, thereby destroying the food chain.

“Looking at the health implications, carbon monoxide is very dangerous to human. If you’re exposed to it, there’s a particular limit which is acceptable. Once you exceed that limit, it will replace oxygen in the blood stream and form carbon haemoglobin which can lead to sophistication when it builds up and the person will die. That is why you see people living in that environment suffering diseases like asthma and other diseases of the upper and lower respiratory tract infections. And their longitivity is drastically reduced,” he said.

Another health hazard inherent in bush refining of crude oil is, according to the professor, that incomplete combustion can also lead to soot, which when breathed in could block the lungs and the airways and could lead to cancer. According to him, a lot of these crude oil products are carcinogenic, because they contain what is called poly aromatic hydrocarbon. This corroborates Nnimmo Bassey’s assertion that the people in the Niger Delta region suffer the shortest lifespan in Nigeria.