***says Nigeria will soon develop fingerprinting (DNA) of its crude oil
Akam James, Yenagoa
The Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, yesterday disclosed that the federal government will soon develop finger print (DNA) of its crude oil, noting that crude oil theft can easily be identified when crude products are stolen.
The minister who stated this during the commissioning of the ultra modern Bio-resource Laboratory complex and the livestock feed milling complex at the Bioresources Development Center (BIODEC), in Odi, Bayelsa state.
Onu, who reiterated that the quest for DNA test through finger print for Nigeria crude oil will soon be answered, added that no nation has ever become great without science and technology, so Nigeria can never be an exception.
He emphasized that with the facility at the newly commissioned laboratory, oil theft will soon be a thing of the past, as the finger printing of Nigeria crude oil will enable the country to track its crude oil anywhere when stolen and solve the problem of economic sabotage.
He said, “This lab, the ultra modern laboratory, I feel very happy; for me, Nigeria is changing. With this capacity here now, we will able to do many things. I just gave them instruction that by the end of the year, we should have finger printing of our crude oil, so that if anybody steals it we will be able to identify it, because even crude oil can have finger prints and with the equipment we have here we can do it in Nigeria.
“One problem that we have is that we rely on outside, from other people to solve our problems. We produce crude oil, we export it, but we now import refined petroleum products.
We exports our woods and we bring in toothpicks. We don’t want that anymore and for you to do all this things we rely on others, we have to look inward and we need to build capacity and what this facility is doing for us.
Normally, this is something we spent a lot of money and you ask other people to do it. Now, when we do it here, it Is our people that will do it here, that is how to create jobs, that is how to create wealth because that money you could have sown outside will now be here and be use it here. Even though we are the largest economic in Nigeria, we want to bigger than that that.
Onu, had earlier during a courtesy call on the state governor, Seriake Dickson, announced plans by the Federal Government to establish an oil and gas institute in Bayelsa state.
He said the institute would not only create employments opportunities but will also develop skills in the oil and gas sector which will help revamp the nation economy.
Also speaking, the Director General of the Agency, Prof. Lucy Jumeyi, stated that government’s support for biotechnology must continue to rise, adding that the group of scientists are intelligent, hardworking, innovative and forward looking.
She said everything found in the laboratories outside the country is available in the laboratories, while also requesting for assistance in addressing the energy challenge of this complex with solar panels as no aspect of science can thrive on power outage.
In his brief, the centre director, Mr. Josiah Habu, said the target of the research center is to bring reliability, quality, originality, innovation and novelty to research and development.
He said the commissioning of the facilities has officially open the gateway to a higher level of Bioresources prospecting and processing to new products and services to support local content and bio-economy to diversify the sources of income or collective good.
Habu echoing the words of the minister affirmed, “For a start, the quest for the DNA of Nigeria crude oil will son be answered, to enable doe tracking of Nigeria crude oil flow globally, hence solve national problem of economic sabotage.”
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