 Nigeria is the world's ninth-largest producer of crude oil, yet its official oil refining capacity is practically non-existent. But in the oil reach nine to delta, an informal artisanal refining industry thrives. Artisanal refineries are small makeshift sites where used in a low-tech process called cooking, crude oil is turned into products such as diesel, kerosene and gasoline. The refineries are run like cottage industries, operating steadily below the radar of law. They siphon of crude oil from pipelines and contribute to the country's staggering levels of oil theft. It is estimated that 5-20% of oil produced in Nigeria is stolen every year. In early 2020, official crude production was around 2 million barrels per day, that translates into a loss of some 3 billion British pounds. Most of those investing in artisanal sites, properly called camps, break even within 2-3 weeks. Depending on the market price, they can earn 10 times over their initial investment. The Nigerian government is well aware of these activities and has frequently tried to enforce policies to stop them. It has sent in the military and conducted offensives to break up the camps. The country's stage-run oil company has tried to implement surveillance operations along oil pipelines in the region, and civil society organizations have long-run campaigns to discourage the practice. The cost of this effort to the government has been enormous, yet none of the attempts have managed to suppress the industry or the corruption associated with it. Even today, when oil demand has sunk to historic lows, somehow, these refining sites keep popping up. Why has this been so difficult to stop? Research by the SOAS Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme, an SDN suggests this is largely because of the number of people who benefit from the refineries. Of course, this includes those who are directly involved, such as refinery owners and walkers. But the refineries also benefit others, such as members of the country's security services, and local politicians too stand to gain. Refinery proceeds are sometimes used to finance political campaigns. But there is an even more important reason why these sites are so difficult to shut down. And that is because the local communities among most of them have an interest to keep them going. Why would they want supposedly criminal activities in their midst? The answer is tied up with the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources from Nigeria's oil. The Niger Delta is one of the most impoverished regions in the country. The official unemployment rate here stands at roughly 40%. This is despite the Delta being host to the nation's oil and gas industry. Not only have the oil reserves done very little for local communities, traditional livelihoods have been severely affected by the damage from oil spills to soil and water quality. This local code refining is helping people light their homes in absence of electricity from the government. But now, the artisanary refining sites provide opportunities for work where otherwise they will be very little. First, they are the jobs that are directly associated with how petroleum products are cooked and supplied. These include workers managing the sites and their supervisors and those involved in selling and distribution. The refineries often employ well qualified young men. Some of them have levels of education that will allow them to become engineers, mechanics or to work in local retail. But because there are no other options, they have chosen to work here. It helps that the pay is higher than in competing jobs. As a starting point, a camp worker can earn more than 200,000 Nigerian Naira per month. Much more than other local jobs such as subsistence farming and fishing. In fact, 200,000 Naira is six times more than the national minimum wage and it is about the same salary as a lieutenant in the Navy. More senior staff, camp owners and others in the value chain can earn substantially more. But there are also many secondary jobs that are created by the refineries. An even better explanation for community support. Where jobs are scarce, these opportunities are anything but secondary. And there is gainful employment for women, like when they set up hotels to house workers or provide catering services to the camps. There are even informal surveillance jobs carried out by members of the community where they gather intelligence for security forces in the region. And that is not all the community gets. The refineries provide fuel for electricity, which in Nigeria is always in short supply. And while the government is taking steps to address the situation, it is not likely to be resolved in the short to medium term. The country has one of the highest levels of self-generated electricity in the developing world. Most Nigerian consumers have to make arrangements for their own electricity supply, electricity produced by small generators and inverters. And the estuarine regions of the Delta are particularly badly affected by this scarcity and unreliability. The diesel manufactured at a tizano refining site finds a ready market as locals buy to fire their generators. With the use of the Niger Delta, especially those who are involved in tizano refining to see how we can get a better life for them and to tell the federal government to give them modular refinery, which is what they are promised the use of the region. Because the federal government is trying to say youths should stop out of tizano refining if they stop what we do eat. It is not hard to see why rule breaking is so entrenched in the communities that surround tizano sites and why the activities are so hard to stop. But the refineries also have severe negative spiel over effect for the environment and for community members' health. The sites immediate surroundings become extremely polluted. This leads to health issues such as pollution related skin conditions, cancers and premature steel birds. Yet, most communities want to keep these refineries running. To them, the benefits seem to outweigh the costs. With this evidence, it is clear that more military action or further criminalization will not help solve the issue of tizano refining. Yet, something does need to be done urgently. The health and environment effects are real and the right to decent work is fundamental. So what can be done? The first critical issue is to address the impact of health by providing basic health care. Helping communities deal with their health problems will be one way of reassuring them that their grievances matter. The right step in strengthening state-citizen relations. The second strategy is directly compete with tizano jobs and provide remunerative alternative employment. One idea is to formalize part of this industry and use the skills and capacities so far created within a new formal structure, which will use more sophisticated and less polluting technology. While somewhat controversial, even the federal government is thinking along these lines. So if it's possible for the government to make it official, we are much more ready. So what we need is just a license. Go ahead. We can even partner with foreigners and make it official and then get more employment for our youths. The third strategy is to provide non-polluting solar power for electricity provision. This would give communities alternatives to buying fuel from the sites while easing the impact on the environment. A combination of these three strategies could then be used to form that all-important coalition of actors who no longer see it in their interest to be corrupt.