Residents of Ijegun-Egba, which includes Satellite Town, in Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos State, are worried over the location of about 50 tank farms and container terminals in their community. These tank farms, operated by 13 marketing firms, they claimed, put their economic and social lives in danger. They are demanding that the tank farms be relocated and no licences issued for new ones. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.
KUDAISI Ismaila Toyin, a resident of 12, Asaka Street, Otubu Estate, Satellite Town, Lagos, hardly sleeps with his eyes closed these days. To him, and other residents of the community, the fear of the fleet of tankers and trailers laden with petroleum products, daily moving in and out of the tank farms in the area is, perhaps, the beginning of wisdom.
The Nation learnt that about 400 petrol tankers laden with products are trapped daily on a single narrow road that leads to the petroleum product facility, where about 50 tank farms, operated by 13 marketing companies, are said to have pushed members of the communities into the panic mode. Toyin, lawyer, said residents of the densely-populated area now live in constant fear.
Toyin told The Nation that the fear of a possible fire forced him to relocate his family from the community. He said although his law firm is still on Marwa Road, Ijegun-Egba, Satellite Town, he is still in jitters because most times petrol tankers plying the bumpy road leak fuel throwing the neighbourhood into panic. To him, conventional wisdom dictated that he should relocate his family to avoid the unthinkable or at least, minimise his losses in the event of fire.
Olayinka Adeniyi, who resides in Nigerian General Insurance Housing Estate, also in Satellite Town, said the community which stretches from Alakija to Abule-Ado on Badagry Expressway to the waterside and beyond, has been like an area under siege because of the movement of the petrol tankers and trailers.
According to him, the traffic of trailers often cause gridlock right from the expressway to Old Ojo Road from both Abule-Ado and Alakija through Finiger. Also, the dilapidated and narrow Marwa Road, down to waterside and the depots has added to the residents’ misery. “Some of us sleep on the road because we are usually trapped in the traffic when coming back from work,” Adeniyi lamented.
He warned that “with a fleet of tankers moving bumper to bumper on a road originally not built to accommodate such heavy duty trucks, we’re courting disaster.” He, therefore, called on the state and Federal Government to quickly move in and sanitise the area, first by constructing speed breakers to stop aggressive and reckless drivers from hitting innocent school children and other road users.
Secondly, Adeniyi said the trucks should either be stopped or regulated to discourage them from moving in the morning hours when children are going to school and in the evening when people are returning from work. He also said the government should convert the Mumuni Adio Badmus Road (Marwa Road) to a dual carriage and speed up the construction of alternative roads on either side of Marwa Road.
Satellite Town Forum Chairman, Mr. Governor Imitini, said persistent outcry by residents that the activities of the tank farms and the bonded terminals in the area posed serious dangers has failed to hit the right chord in the ears of relevant authorities. He said the forum had written several letters to draw the state’s and Federal Government’s attention to the residents’ plights, yet succor had yet to come their way.
Copies of the letters, which he made available to The Nation, indicated that the Zonal Operations Controller, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR); Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment and Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) are aware that Ijegun-Egba/Satellite Town residents are sitting on a keg of gun powder because of the deplorable state of infrastructure in the area.
Imitini also showed two separate letters by the Forum to President Muhammadu Buhari and the former Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode. The letters, which bore the same title: “Relocation of Tank Farms and Container Terminals/Bonded Warehouses From Satellite Town, Lagos, A High Density Residential Area: An SOS”, also drew the attention of the two chief executives to the numerous dangers the activities of the petroleum products firms posed to residents.
The Forum’s chairman told The nation, for instance, that the tank farms were built on flood/drainage channels, adding that by blocking the natural flood channels, the flood water is forced back into the several estates, streets and houses in the community, causing several residential buildings in the area to be submerged by flood, especially when it rains. According to him, not a few landlords and tenants have been forced to abandon their homes.
For those who abandoned their homes, including Mr. Toyin, the threat of an impending outbreak of an epidemic caused by environmental pollution is real. The alleged waste dumps by the tank farms, oil spills on stagnant polluted water, open defecation by truck drivers, and dampness caused by perennial flooding, among others, have exacerbated fears of outbreak of an epidemic.
Several businesses are also said to have closed shop because of the lull in social and economic activities caused by flooding. Also hit are those who manage schools for children, women engaged in market-related activities, as well as religious centres. At the last count, there are about 300 worship centres in Ijegun/Satellite Town. And each time it rains, worshipers are forced to wade through murky, flooded streets.
Imitini lamented that all entreaties to get the owners of the tank farms to open up the blocked channels have fallen on deaf ears. A resident of Devine Estate, Satellite Town, Mr. Ndubuisi Okafor, aligned with him, pointing out that the concern and frustration of the community over the deplorable infrastructure in the area stemmed from the fact that both the operators and the government are not addressing the issues raised, despite several letters written to them.
“Government’s constitutional duty is to protect the people, but the reverse is the case here; government is aligning with the private sector to undermine the people. It’s sad and unfortunate,” Ndubuisi said, calling on DPR and Ministry of Environment to immediately re-assess the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the area before the tank farms start operations.
Mr. Toyin specifically accused the tank farms owners of fraudulently procuring approvals from DPR, without proper EIA. He said the community suspects that the DPR never visited the site before issuing licenses to the tank farms. This, he alleged, explains why the 13 firms operating the over 50 tank farms in the area had no functional fire station and recovery towing equipment, for instance.
While also alleging that the operators are building new terminals and expanding existing ones, despite repeated outcries by residents, the aggrieved residents called on DPR to immediately halt the issuance of licenses for new tank farms in Ijegun-Egba/Satellite Town. They also want the government through DPR to reduce the number of tank farms in the area, while efforts should be made to ultimately relocate them.
Other demands of the community include the relocation of the Bonded Terminal at the ever busy Alakija Bus Stop, which is the busiest bus stop in Satellite Town; cancellation of container terminal project at Zone 2 Liverpool Estate, and construction of temporary tanker and trailer park.
They are also demanding the provision of safety facilities such as well-equipped fire service and provision of towing equipment that can easily remove broken down tankers from the roads. They also want Old Ojo Road, which has been dilapidated, to be reconstructed and large underground culverts constructed across the depot road for onward routing to the sea.
DPR’s position
DPR has, however, faulted some of the community’s claims. The petroleum industry regulator said, for instance, that contrary to the claim that licenses are being issued for new tank farms, the last time it issued such approval for a tank farm in Satellite Town area was in 2016.
The Media Manager for the Department, Mr. Paul Osu, also clarified that before any depot approval is given by DPR, the application by the prospective depot owner must be supported by approvals from other government agencies such as the Nigeria Police, Fire Service, the NPA or Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), for coastal depots; Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, for federal lands; state government planning authorities.
His words: “We regulate the oil and gas industry across all the streams: downstream, mid-stream and upstream. But for you to set up a petroleum product outlet like the one we are talking about, the parties involved in the approval process include Fire Service Department, that this will not constitute fire hazard; Police, that it will not constitute traffic nuisance; state Ministry of Physical Planning, that the place is suitable to site that facility, be it depot, or petrol station.
“It is when you have all these approvals that you now come to DPR for it to now do the technical audit of your facility and now issue license if you are technically compliant. These approvals by other agencies are in addition to independent third party studies and investigations on environmental viability and safety of operations of the deport to be so established.”
While clarifying that locating any petroleum product facility in any area in Nigeria is not the sole responsibility of DPR, but a combination of agencies, Mr. Osu also said the community’s claim of lack of a fire station in the area is not true. His words: “Any depot or facility of that nature must have a fire fighting mechanism. And the operators all pooled resources together to build one.
“I think it was last year or so when there was a fire incident in one of the depots. It was their fire-fighting equipment that was used to arrest that issue. There is no facility of that magnitude without a fire station. The companies have robust fire-fighting equipment.”
Mr. Osu also clarified that DPR has representatives in every deport. “If you go to any deport, you must see a DPR representative there and our job is to provide the regulatory oversight there to make sure that things are done accordingly. And we do routine inspection. Almost on weekly basis, our staff visits all the petroleum facilities; sometimes we go with the media,” he said.
Although, he admitted that the state of infrastructure in the area is deplorable, the DPR spokesman, however, said it is not the responsibility of DPR, but that of the state and Federal Governments. Even at that, he said both levels of government are doing something about the provision of infrastructure in order to give the residents succour.
While reiterating that no new facility has been licensed in Satellite Town since 2016, Mr. Osu said the DPR visited the site before approvals were issued, as part of its regulatory oversight. “You must technically audit their facilities before you give your nod or approval,” he told The Nation.