Former illegal oil refiners in Rivers State have vowed to continue in their illegal dealings in petroleum products until the Federal Government provides them with empowerment. The artisanal refiners, who are mainly drawn from the Ogoni extraction, noted that they cannot leave their only source of survival until the Federal Government provides them an alternative. Their position was disclosed to Minister of State for Environment and Chairman, Governing Council, Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, Ibrahim Jibrin, in Port Harcourt, at a one-day consultative meeting organised by the office of the Project Coordination, HYPREP. Speaking for the ex-artisanal refiners, Mr. Domka Humphrey said they can only stop refining petroleum products illegally if the Federal Government empowers them and include them in the remediation process in Ogoni. Humphrey said: “Sir, I will tell you our minds, if you don’t empower us, we will not stop refining, because this is what we feed our families and relations with. We don’t have anything doing after government took away the pipeline surveillance from us.