Eric Tomfawei, an environmental scientist who works in the oil industry, described the idea of burning down illegal or bush refineries as rather dogmatic and uncivilised. He noted that burning down impacts on the aquatic life and the vegetation in the area. The oil could also spill in the process. There’s also a situation whereby the oil goes directly into the water, which could pollute the mangrove due to the lasting impact of the poly aromatic hydrocarbon, called oil PAH, on the soil.

He said the terrestrial effect of burning down these refineries is so serious that the mangrove swamps around that place are all dead. “So we have, not only the oil impacting on the environment. We also have the issue of temperature rising above normal as they burn down the refineries, which, in itself puts the wild lives at risk and at a very fast rate of extinction. Please note that wild life contributes a whole lot to the ecosystem, and once the chain is affected, be very sure that the remaining aspect of the ecosystem would also be affected.

“The ozone layer is also at risk. The ecosystem is seriously affected. The soil is also affected through the oil that goes down into it, the aquatic lives would be affected, plus the fact that humans which is the most important thing could lose their lives in the act,” Tomfawei explained.

•Security personnel destroying an illegal refinery

Authorities of the JTF also expressed concern over the burning the bush refineries. Lt. Col. Anka disclosed that the JTF was working in collaboration with oil companies to fashion out a more environment-friendly method of evacuating the seized product and returning same to the identified companies whose pipelines were ruptured to steal the product.

“Additionally, the Task Force embarked on advocacy campaign on the ugly menace in collaboration with oil producing states, oil companies, opinion leaders, traditional rulers, youths and other stakeholder,” he said.

Experts agree on the need to adopt alternative ways to destroy illegal refineries without having to burn them down. Professor Obahiagbon agreed that Nigerians believe in brute force, but noted that brute force may not be able to solve the problem, as destroying the refineries by burning will end up destroying the environment.

He advised that military men should dismantle the bush refineries, not burn them, because burning them means they are also helping to contribute to the pollution of the environment. As they are destroying them, they are polluting the waterways and the soil.

That is also the thought of Nnimmo Bassey, who noted that the manner of destruction by the JTF won’t solve the problem, but actually compounds it. He said for the fact that the refineries are simple modular contraptions, SMC, it is easy to build. It is like a moving target. So burning them is a very inefficient way to tackle the problem.

Successful removal of illegal bush refineries by the JTF is one thing, but sustaining it is another challenge. Experts agree that government should create jobs for those young men and women and increase the value chain of agriculture in the region, because when there are more opportunities for young graduates to get jobs, none of them would embark on such risk.

Bassey also suggested legalising and regulating bush refinery by the government. Secondly, the refineries should be dismantled rather than bombed. and this, he said, is a job for military engineers and not gun-carrying soldiers.