News
Refining Fraud Through Oil
Refining fraud through oil
By Emeka Obasi
The Nigerian oil industry is a multi billion naira venture capable of creating one of the leading economies in the globe. It is the mainstay of robust nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait where results of transparency visit investors.
Unfortunately, this same Black Gold has become a curse in one of the largest oil producing nations of the world. There is nothing to show for the trillions of naira earned by successive governments, either military or civilian.
It is criminal that all the four refineries in Nigeria, with a capacity of 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) have been grounded since 2019. The two in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and another in Kaduna are not different from war relics, reminding compatriots of the pains of failed leadership.
The truth is that Nigerians have been told more lies by the government and Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) Limited, than those who colonised Africa during the years of Imperialism. Deceit has become an official policy.
Port Harcourt refinery was built to turn out 210,000 bpd. There are reports that about 1.5 million dollars went into it in 2015 for Turn Around Maintenance (TAM). The only visible result is a moribund site that continues to create long lines in filling stations nationwide.
Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, made several attempts to show how much he cared about the people. He began to issue statements of fact, raising hope that Port Harcourt refinery was ready to roar back to life.
It is impossible to determine how many times those promises turned empty and evaporated through the rough creeks of the Niger Delta. Hope was raised, D Day fixed for December 2022. Nearly two years after, D Day has moved as many times as it takes water to pass under the bridge.
The Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company attracted positive attention when the Managing Director, Desmond Inyamah, announced a December 2023 date as definite period of production. There are worries that after another year, nothing has happened. The story in Kaduna is not different.
While Nigerians remain in perpetual agony, some politicians and importers are growing fatter, gaining from the corrupt system that allows crude oil to be exported, refined and brought back to the country at perilous costs.It takes only the devil to understand why an oil producing nation enjoys the death of its refineries.
The shame is that there are citizens who are blessed with the ingenuity to stem this robbery. During the Civil War, the only refinery was in the Garden City, under the breakaway Republic of Biafra. When Port Harcourt fell in May 1968, the war did not end.
Biafrans went to work. A new refinery was built in Uzuakoli, by the Petroleum Management Board (PMB). How striking that one former Nigerian Oil Minister chose the acronym, PMB. Another refinery emerged in Amandugba, through the Research and Production Board. It took impoverished and landlocked Biafra months to build two refineries. For decades, Nigeria in peace time, has been unable to maintain four refineries.
Dangote Refinery is here; why are we unhappy? By Dele Sobowale
Dangote Fallout: Scotland’s only oil refinery to close next year, 400 jobs to go
During the war, Biafra found an alternative to oil. Dr. Clement Onyemelukwe, regarded as the Father of Electricity in Nigeria led efforts to produce fuel from coal. Today, there are coal deposits in the Enugu area, no attempt has been made to think out of the box.
What Nigerians gain from oil is lamentation. When President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, a litre of Premium Motor Spirit was less than 100 naira. He was Petroleum minister as a soldier. The first thing he did as Oil minister and President, was to hike the price astronomically.
His successor, President Bola Tinubu, who is also the Oil minister jumped from 165 naira per litre to over 600 naira per litre. Today, Nigerians are struggling to see fuel to buy at over 1000 naira per litre after yet another hike.
This price hike is strange, coming less than one year after the NNPC flaunted a three trillion naira profit. It is only in skewed climes that a company that made trillions in profit will blame fuel scarcity on debt it owed global partners.
Aliko Dangote has been in a cat and mouse game with the NNPC. His resolve to open a new refinery was met with blackmail, politics and all sorts of damaging stories. Behind the facade, is the feeling that he has come to block leakages that gave thieves access to free loot.
In 1999, Dangote and his friend Femi Otedola, pioneered Blue Star Consortium to acquire 75 percent stakes in Port Harcourt and Kaduna Refineries. They were frustrated. He is back with Dangote Refinery. The oil bandits are fighting him and punishing the people.
Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. If Biafrans could build refineries while killer bomber jets hovered around the them, why is the same not happening in Nigeria where there is no Civil War? It is obvious that those who decide our fate are killers of talent.
I feel so bad anytime news is made of government agencies raiding communities in the Niger Delta and destroying refineries. All the brains managing our oil feel threatened by the ingenuity of people who have no degrees in Petrochemical Engineering or any formal training but are able to do what government failed to do.
The world cannot understand how Nigerians continue to tolerate their leaders in big offices who relax at the back seat of fuel guzzling Sports Utility Vehicles while the masses spend days and nights watching over chaos in gas stations that grind them with high prices.
News
Great Loss As Family Announces The Painful Passing Iduwini-borne Billionaire Prince, Presley Gere Iyalahga
By: Miracle Palakia
Odimodi, Delta State – The Iyalahga and Diepregha families, Odimodi, Aghoro, and the entire Iduwini Kingdom in Delta and Bayelsa States, breaks silence on the painful loss of their son, Prince Presley Isele Gere Iyalahga, Billionaire businessman and Chief Executive Officer of Preslyn Group of Companies, who passed away on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, at the age of 48.
Prince Presley was an illustrious son of two distinguished families: His Royal Majesty Gere J. Iyalagha, (Igbedikuru-II), the late Ibenanawei of Iduwini Kingdom, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, and the late Regent of Iduwini Kingdom (Delta & Bayelsa States), High Chief Diepregha Akpotelemor of Gberigberi-Idumu Quarters, Aghoro-I Community, Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The former President of the Iduwini National Youth Council for Peace and Development was a respected businessman and community leader, who’s untimely demise has thrown his family, friends, associates, community, and Kingdom into deep shock and sorrow. He’s survived by his beloved wife, Princess Preye Presley Iyalagha, and six children.
The families made known the development to newsmen on Saturday, August 16th, in a statement jointly signed by Mr. Oroupade Oweibe and George Diepregha for the families and his son, Prince Peremobowei Presley Iyalagha, for the children.
According to the statement, funeral rites will take place on Friday, August 29th, 2025. At 10 a.m., the body will depart Warri via Millar Jetty to his compound in Odimodi for a brief Funeral Service, lying in state, interment.
IduwiniVoice can report that Prince Presley Iyalagha’s passing marks not only the loss of a vibrant Royal entrepreneur but that of a leader in Iduwini Kingdom and Ijaw nation. His memory remains deeply cherished by the lives he touched and all who knew him.
By: Divine Perezide
Congratulatory messages continue to pour in as Warri-borne business tycoon, and Delta Ijaw APC leader, Madam Beauty Warezuwowei makes the list of members recently appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu into the reconstituted Governing Council and Board of Trustees of Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYREP). Reinforcing the federal government’s commitment to tackling environmental degradation in oil-producing regions, the newly appointed board members include representatives from the Niger Delta, Ogoni Communities, NGOs, and oil-producing states, with the Minister of Environment serving as Chairman of the council.
Read the statement announcing the appointment below:
“STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE
“PRESIDENT TINUBU ANNOUNCES MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR HYREP
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the reconstitution of the Governing Council and Board of Trustees of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYREP), with the Minister of Environment serving as Chairman of the Council.
“The other members are Loanyie Barituka Victor, who represents the Non-governmental Organisations focused on the environment, Bright Onyebuchi Jacob, and Henry Obiabure, who represent the Niger Delta communities.
“Professor Barinedum Michael Nwibere and Barrister Baride Abdul Gwezia are the representatives of the Ogoni Community on the new Council.
“The nine oil-producing states have two representatives on the Council: Gideon Onyebuwa Melfor and Dr Ibikunle Omotehinse.
“There are four alternative members of the Council, representing Ogoniland and the Niger Delta: Rev. Canon Dr Abraham Olungwe, who was reappointed and Engr. Maeba Power Ekpobari are the alternate members of the Council representing Ogoniland. Joseph Akedesuo and Beauty Warejuowei represent the Niger Delta.
“President Tinubu also reconstituted the HYREP Board of Trustees, with Emmanuel Nwiika Deeyah reappointed chairman.
“Fred Mbombo Igwe and Dr. Fred Barivule Kpakol will represent Ogoni communities and stakeholders on the board. Mrs Dorcas Amos represents the other Niger Delta communities, while Chief Jide Damazio, who was reappointed, represents the NGOs dealing with environmental issues.
“Bayo Onanuga
Special Adviser to the President
(Information & Strategy)
“August 11, 2025”
The appointment of Warejuwowei into the board of the HYREP, an office marking the renewed poise at restoring the badly polluted environments in the Niger Delta and advancin Ogoniland’s remediation efforts, has been applauded by people from across the region, adding that she will surely deliver meaningful contributions towards the successes of the agency and the federal government.
By: Favour Bibaikefie
Commendations pour in from across Africa as renowned Delta State-born peace and development advocate, Comrade (Chief) Mulade Sheriff, has succefully defended his researh for Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in International Relations at the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka.
A United Nations Peace Ambassador, environmentalist, human rights activist, sports enthusiast, entrepreneur, educational promoter, and social leader, Dr. Mulade is the National Coordinator of the foremost civil rights organisation, Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), also known as the Africa 4 Peace Centre.
This remarkable academic feat once again demonstrates his unwavering zeal for intellectual excellence, further cementing his reputation as a visionary leader committed to peace, justice, and development, through the instrumentality of the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge.
As he takes this leap from local, state, and national engagements to a more pronounced presence on the international stage, Nigerians can look forward to the far-reaching impact of his knowledge, which promises to translate into global opportunities for the nation and beyond.