*Stakeholders demand relocation of tankers from area
Etim Ekpimah
Two persons were burnt to death while three others were seriously injured when two motorbikes, a dispatch rider and a commercial motorbike (okada) carrying 25 litres of fuel, collided.
It was learnt that the collision between the commercial motorbike and the dispatch rider outward Shalom Estate caused a commotion as the fleeing public thought the explosion was caused by tanker fire.
An eyewitness told our correspondent that fully loaded tankers, parked nearby (of course, stretching from the depot junction on Marwa Road all through by the side to Old Ojo Road, could have made residents think that the incident was a tanker fire.
“There was an explosion at Ijegun. People scampered for safety thinking it was a tanker parked nearby (of course, they always park tankers stretching from the depot junction on Marwa Road all through by the side to Old Ojo Road). Fully loaded tankers!
“Two people were burnt to death, while three others were seriously burnt, but survived. An eyewitness says they jumped in and rolled inside the gutter, hence were able to survive the inferno. They were rushed to the hospital,” the eyewitness said.
Mr Ndubusi Okafor, Chairman Media Committee, Satellite Town Forum and Convener Amuwo Decides 2023, said a government in the 21st century wants residents of Ijegun- Egba Satellite Town to cohabit with deadly Tank farms and Container Terminals; mainly storage facilities, purveyors and carriers of highly inflammable petroleum products; instead of moving to relocate these from the densely populated residential area.
He said: “Not that there was no thought in that direction; then Commissioner Salako of Physical Planning and Urban Development informed about three years ago that they had mapped out large expanse of land at Ibeju Lekki for the purpose. Today tank farms and container terminals are still here. No shaking.
“I was terribly sad and upset! What the residents have for over five years dreaded is playing out. Human beings roasted alive on our new Marwa Road! We are not talking of a fowl, goat, sheep, or even wandering cattle (they have their rights too!), but the precious human being!
“If there were no tank farms in our residential area, there won’t be the parking of fully loaded tankers on the whole stretch of Pioneer, Marwa and Old Ojo Roads. If the fully loaded tankers were not parked, there won’t be thriving black market. If there was no thriving black market, they would not be patronised by roadside fuel hawkers and domestic users of petroleum products. And if there was an uninterrupted power supply, who would be siphoning and buying products from the black market?
“And today, we have roasted human beings on our road! With other victims of the sample small-scale petro-explosion on the danger list! Part of the trending picture is a nude man, with marks of burns tottering, perhaps groping for a means to hospital care. It could be a passerby caught by the raging inferno. Stories of how people ran when the explosion occurred with the roaring fire are on the lips of everyone here.
“Who do we hold to account for this human sacrifice on our road? Who do we hold responsible?”
Okafor stated that the alarm was sounding, adding that if the incident happened very close to a fully loaded parked tanker from which merchants were siphoning fuel, the magnitude would have been multidimensional and hugely consequential.
According to him, the president or his representative would have visited, federal legislators would have come, and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who has taken up several projects in the community, but never deemed it fit to visit and hear the people always in a trauma, would have immediately rushed to the scene.
He noted that the same is true with the members representing the community in the Lagos State House of Assembly.
He said: “The community leaders belong to many Lagos platforms and have been reporting on fully loaded parked tankers on our residential roads, some even very close to akara bakers/sellers. We will never get tired of serving the notices, no matter how bad.
“Petitions and actions for relocation made Hon. Oghene, formerly MHR move a motion for the relocation of dangerous and highly inflammable tank farms from residential areas, but the same did not make him and his colleagues of the 9th Assembly tenacious as they are magically and tragically soft-pedalled and soft-landed to the outright rejected cohabitation the Nigerian way. Petitions are being sat on by the incumbent Senate and House of Representatives. The lesson from this incident is clear; tank farms should have been relocated from this environment since yesterday.
“I agonised, not because we the community activists are prophets of doom, but that we are overstretched, and the falcon cannot hear the falconer; our leaders are responding negatively to our cries. When we cry out, those who are formally salaried to be doing these jobs are nowhere to be found as they stay far away in their air-conditioned offices.
“They might be thinking we are embarrassing them or working against the government. But it appears that the government and our representatives are indeed working against the people by licensing and supporting Tankfarms in a residential area. If these leaders/policymakers or their relations were living in Ijegun-Egba Satellite Town, these Tankfarms in the community would have closed shops a long time ago and those who approved them would have paid for it. That’s how sane countries function, not otherwise. The onus is on them to prove otherwise.”
Okafor said that as residents of Ijegun-Egba Satellite Town, sadly mourning the dead and commiserating with those affected, they still grapple with the insensitivity of those in government.
“A tank farm proponent, NW Petroleum, which the community long rejected and wrote severally to authorities against is rumoured to have been given approvals by the same authorities. YTK Petroleum, which the community also long rejected warms up, and in their case, bridges the existing little distance between the tank farms and residential estates by bringing tank farm closer to residential buildings.
“Similarly, a gas plant proponent insists on building his project in a residential community. Community leaders held a meeting yesterday on this gas plant just as the charred remains of the victims of yesterday’s inferno were being carried out. A lot too many!” he said.
Okafor said that by implication, the government has reneged on its promise not to approve additional tank farms in this area. If they have been approved or are about to be approved, who are they working for? Can we still trust the government?
Elected leaders should find a place in their hearts to truly work for communities, not punish communities.
Mr. Okafor, Chairman Media Committee, Satellite Town Forum & Convener Amuwo Decides 2023