It gives me great pleasure to welcome you this meeting, gathered here today are some of the finest and creative minds our country can boast of which are sons and daughters of this great state in the Niger Delta.
I sincerely appreciate Development and Peace, Caritas Canada for sponsoring this project in the Niger Delta. To my brothers and sisters from the Niger delta, I know we have been frustrated by perceived lack of benefits from oil production in our communities as we have been abandoned by multinationals after decades of oil exploration. It is well understood from statistical evidence that unemployment rate in our country today is on the rise, we are in the midst of economic crisis, our environment has been badly polluted. Our aquatic lives are depopulating while some are going extinct, many of our fisher men and women can no longer fish, our peasant farmers have completely lost their means of livelihood. The black Soot is on the increase and new respiratory diseases are evolving, the ozone layers are depleting on a daily basis. Kerosene explosion is on the rise causing more harm than good to our society. The manner we are sourcing and using our energy is threatening our planet and our very existence. This issue is burning, hence the need to take this training to you today.
I wish to state here that the activities of artisanal crude oil refiners are part of some the things that have degraded our environment but studying the skills needed to carry out artisanal crude oil refining has made us discover that if a people can design fractional distillation system and understand different boiling points of petroleum products without a university degree, then there is nothing that you conceive in your mind to do that you cannot do. You can as well create other ideas that can make you an employer of labour. The global economy is going green. Therefore, there is need to prepare ourselves to move with the global community.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you take away the environment, then you take away the entire lives of living organisms and the entire human race. Our environment is our live. Every living organism relate with its environment, when you take away the environment, you take away these relationships which means dead. There is nothing like the ecological system as Artisanal refining has impacted negatively on our environment, health and economy. These challenges are real and can only be solved by the decisions that we take here today collectively. We cannot continue to pollute our environment, smiling to the bank while others suffer the consequences of burnt and other illnesses on daily basis, there are better ways we can make more money.
At the end of this training today, we must take a bold step to make quality decisions that will sustain our environment for the unborn generation. The only sustainable alternative is to turn to renewable energy and there is no better time than now. We can look into renewable energy sources like Solar Panel Sales and Distribution, Solar Panel Installation, Bio-fuel Production, Wind Energy Installation, Solar water pumping system, Solar refrigeration system, Power Storage (Inverters & UPS), etc. When we do this, we will not only create new jobs, but to lay new foundation for growth.
From amongst you, we can key into these opportunities and make our environment safe, have good health and even become great entrepreneurs that the world will celebrate. I strongly believe that at the end of this training, you will be equipped with information that is capable of unlocking your hidden potentials to do exploits in the renewable energy industry. Thank you for your attention.
(Cross Section of participants at the training in group photograph)
The participants were also introduced to Biofil Toilet Digester Technology System as an alternative means of livelihood by a training consultant invited by the director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre to broaden their options on alternative means of livelihoods at no extra cost to Development and Peace or SWAYA but YEAC.
(Training Consultant on Biofuel Toilet Digester Technology System, Mr. Barisua Ekeke)
Thus, the Managing Director, QUICKTHINK AFRICA, Egnr. Barisua Ekeke in his PowerPoint presentation introduced the Biofil technology solution system as an alternative means of livelihood. He presented photographs of the systems that he personally designed, their costs and profit margin to engage the minds of the crude oil refiners and its potentialities to create employment as a renewable energy toilet system. He said the facility can be built in hotels, schools and homes and that he has also designed and produced a mobile bio digester that can be installed at homes depending on the individual capacity requirement.