Frontline Niger Delta Freedom fighter, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, has commended the remarkable industrial development of Azikel Refinery, expressing his admiration for the vision and accomplishments of the President of Azikel Group, Dr. Eruani Azibapu, CFR.
Tompolo ,after an extensive tour of the Azikel Refinery facilities and visibly elated by the scale and complexity of the project, declared Eruani as “a leader of the new industrialisation of the Niger Delta, the South-South and Nigeria.”
During the facility tour, Tompolo praised the transformation taking place in Bayelsa and was proud of Azikel Refinery a 25,000 barrel per day, $1 billion US investment. Azikel Refinery is the second largest privately owned refinery in Nigeria, which process condensate and crude oil to produce Petrol, Diesel, Kerosine, Aviation Fuel, Heavy Fuel Oil and LPG.
He said this magnificent investment is a major indigenous industrial development emerging from Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta.
He commended Dr. Eruani for demonstrating that the Niger Delta can move beyond being predominantly a producer of crude oil to becoming a region where its natural resources are processed, refined and transformed into higher-value products.
Tompolo noted that the development of Azikel Refinery represents a new narrative for the Niger Delta—one centred on industrialisation, employment creation, wealth generation, indigenous participation and value addition to Nigeria’s crude oil resources.
He further applauded Dr. Eruani’s determination and entrepreneurial vision, stating that investments of this magnitude have the potential to stimulate wider industrial growth across Bayelsa State, the South-South and Nigeria.
The visit underscored the growing significance of Azikel Refinery, the second largest privately owned refinery in Nigeria an indigenous industrial project aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity while creating economic opportunities within the Niger Delta.
“I am proud of this industrial development that Dr. Eruani Azibapu, CFR, has ignited here in Bayelsa, the Niger Delta, the South South States and Nigeria. This is the kind of development that creates employment, generates wealth and adds value to our crude oil resources,” Tompolo said.
