The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday, blamed the Federal and Lagos State governments for the for chaotic traffic situation on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, challenging them to relocate the tank farms in Apapa if it could not manage the traffic situation on the road.
While absorbing members, especially its Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, branch of any blame, NUPENG, through its Lagos Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, said only tank farms in Apapa had petroleum products, hence tanker drivers were besieging the area.
While absorbing members, especially its Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD, branch of any blame, NUPENG, through its Lagos Zonal Chairman, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, said only tank farms in Apapa had petroleum products, hence tanker drivers were besieging the area.
He said: “Nobody should blame us for the gridlock or the chaotic traffic situation on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. We are just doing our normal job, which is to lift petroleum products and supply to Nigerians. We did not locate the tank farms in Apapa. In fact, we were never consulted before the siting of tank farms. You will see tanker drivers anywhere you have petroleum products. If you like, locate the tank farms in the forest; once we are aware that there are products there, we will go there, get the products and distribute to Nigerians.
“We are tired of this blame game. If the government cannot manage the traffic situation on the expressway, they should relocate the tank farms.
“People should ask government why they concentrated the siting of tank farms in Lagos, and Apapa in particular. Why are Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, depots across the country not functioning? We are not out to inflict pains on Nigerians. Right now our task force on traffic management is working very hard to ensure free flow of traffic. This thing is not easy. We are dealing with a situation where tanker drivers come from all parts of the country to Lagos to lift fuel. Tankers are not what you park in your car garage and there are no parks for these tankers.”
On why tanker drivers cannot maintain one lane and leave the other to other road users, Korodo said: “If you know the number of trucks that come to Lagos on daily basis, you will be amazed. If we start parking on one lane, it will stretch beyond Ibadan in Oyo State. Sincerely, it is the responsibility of government to provide parking space for these trucks. It is also the responsibility of government to manage the traffic situation. If the government has no solution or alternative, they should relocate the tank farms.”
FG’s failed promise
However, assurance by the former Minister of State for Defense, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, two months ago that plans were underway to relocate tank farms along the expressway as a way of finding a lasting solution to the unending traffic gridlock, may be a mirage after all, as traffic gridlock has returned to the route.
STRANDED: Motorists stranded in traffic caused by departing members of a popular church along Cele-Ijesha axis of Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, yesterday. Photo: Akintola, Photo Editor.
STRANDED: Motorists stranded in traffic caused by departing members of a popular church along Cele-Ijesha axis of Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, yesterday. Photo: Akintola, Photo Editor.
Obanikoro, who was on a tour of the expressway two months ago, had raised an alarm over the security implication of allowing trucks to use the route as a park. Before his visit, the Western Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy launched an operation code-named Gbale— a Yoruba word for ‘sweep,’ where 120 personnel were deployed to the various locations for 24-hour daily operation.
With the deployment of the personnel drawn from the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Beecroft and Wey, led by former Beecroft Commanding Officer, Commodore Ovenseri Uwadiae, to the flash points, recalcitrant tanker drivers were moved away from the route.
Their presence witnessed a relief on the route for about three weeks, only for the traffic gricdlock to return— but this time around, worse than it was.
On Tuesday, motorists, who were trapped in the gridlock till about 2a.m., were at the mercy of hoodlums who dispossessed them of their cash and other valuables. The hoodlums do not only operate at night, but also in broad day light. Several motorists have had their windscreens shattered for refusing to wind down their glasses, on sighting the hoodlums.
Inspite of the hue and cry by helpless and defenseless motorists, security operatives seem to pay deaf ears.
Security agents on ‘duty’
When Afric Tv visited the route yesterday, there were neither Naval personnel nor policemen along the axis. Rather, personnel of the Vehicle Inspection Officer,VIO; officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, and policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, were seen stopping vehicles on Mile 2 bridge, thereby, creating more trouble for frustrated motorists.
Effort to reach authorities at the Western Naval Command failed, but it was gathered that the Flag Officer Commanding, FOC, Ilesanmi Alade was unavailable. However, Afric Tv reliably gathered that the Navy withdrew its personnel immediately their involvement in controlling traffic along the route two months ago paid off.
From all indication, there was no hope of the personnel returning to manage the situation as at yesterday. But impeccable Naval sources disclosed that the personnel might be deployed to the route by Monday.
A senior Naval officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Operation Gbale was not launched to maintain a permanent presence of naval personnel because that is not our primary constitutional mandate. The operation was launched on the diirective of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Jubrin Usman, given the security situation in the country.
“During that operation, the areas were segmented into eight sections with Marine Beach and Ijora to Orile Iganmu as flash-points one and two, respectively. Apapa Wharf, Liverpool, Tin-Can Island area, Ibafo (Coconut axis), Berger to Kirikiri and then Mile 2 axis are flash-points three, four, five, six, seven and eight, respectively and it paid off, as motorists heaved sighs of relief. I assure you that by Monday, our personnel will be back .”
When the Lagos State Police Command was contacted to find out why its men were not controlling traffic, the Command’s spokesman, Kenneth Nwosu assured that policemen attached to the Traffic Unit were on their way.
Lagos tank farms, questions, statistics
Afric Tv learnt that no fewer than 36 tank farms are currently operating from Apapa. But the recurring questions are: who approved the construction of these tank farms in Apapa and environs? Did the owners carry out the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, required by the law to determine the effects of such projects on their neighbourhood and how they would be mitigated before the construction of such projects are commenced?
If the EIAs were done, were the reports/recommendations subjected to public scrutiny and open debate as required by the EIA law? What are the measures put in place by the operators of the tank farms to cushion the horrendous impacts of their activities?
Meanwhile, Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Information and Strategy, Alhaji Lateef Raji said: “The Lagos State Government was not contacted for Environment Impact Assessment, EIA. The question should be asked: who did they contact for EIA before they located the tank farms?
“The problem is that the Federal Government has refused to see the state government as a coordinating partner in all its ventures in the state. The point is that the Federal Government has failed to realise that they do not have the capability to achieve urban renewal; it rests on the state. They should not just dabble into every department, all in the name of Federal might.”
Currently, there are about 20 companies with tank farms and petroleum storage facilities around Apapa, with each storage facility capable of holding between 20 million litres to 50 million litres of petroleum products. According to data of petroleum products’ allocations released by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Nigeria currently imports about 4.8 billion litres of petroleum products per quarter.
Almost all of these importations are done through the Apapa ports, as about 90 percent of the tank farms in the country are located around the Apapa area. To evacuate the 4.5 billion litres of petroleum products from the tank farms in Apapa per quarter, about 136,364 tankers, with an average capacity of about 33,000 litres are required.
This translates to about 1,515 tankers with a capacity of 33,000 litres plying the Apapa axis on a daily basis to lift petroleum products from these tank farms to different parts of the country. In addition to risks posed by locating these tanks close to the ports and residential areas, the tankers also pose serious risks to road users, the environment and the society.
I don’t know what EIA is, operator confesses
An operator of one of the tank farms, who would not want to be identified, confirmed that the operators do not have an EIA on their farm. “What do you mean by EIA?” he asked. When VF explained what it meant, he retorted: “No! We did not do anything like that. I guess there was nothing like that requirement when we started. But if there was, then the agency of government concerned did not enforce it, because they did not envisage what is happening now.”
Recent calls by the Federal and the Lagos State governments for the relocation of petroleum tank farms from within Apapa have called to question the approval processes and the environmental impact assessment that were conducted before the construction of petroleum storage facilities in the area.
The issues of the approval process for these tank farms were called to question in 2012, when officials of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA, sealed the premises of five of the oil tank farms’ owners for violation of the state’s environmental laws.
LASEPA disclosed that the oil companies were shut for siting tank farms less than 200 metres away from residential area and operating tank farms without submission of EIA report to the relevant government agencies. However, the premises of the tank farms owners were reopened a week later, after the companies signed a memorandum of understanding, MoU, with the Lagos State Government.
LASEPA agreed with the oil companies that a consultant will be employed to conduct a post-impact assessment of the area to ascertain the extent of environmental pollutions that may have been impacted.
FASHOLA VISITS WHARF: Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State (left), listening to Mr. Aloga Ogbogo, General Manager (Admin) of Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO (right); as Chief Remi Ogungbemi, President, Association of Maritime Truck Owners, AMATO, (2nd right) and others watch during Governor Fashola's visit to Apapa/Oshodi Expressway and Wharf to check compliance of Truck, Tankers Drivers and Owners, at Wharf Gate, Apapa, Lagos yesterday. Photo by Bunmi Azeez.
FASHOLA VISITS WHARF: Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State (left), listening to Mr. Aloga Ogbogo, General Manager (Admin) of Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO (right); as Chief Remi Ogungbemi, President, Association of Maritime Truck Owners, AMATO, (2nd right) and others watch during Governor Fashola’s visit to Apapa/Oshodi Expressway and Wharf to check compliance of Truck, Tankers Drivers and Owners, at Wharf Gate, Apapa, Lagos. Photo by Bunmi Azeez.
The Lagos State Government also mandated the oil companies, as part of numerous safety measures, to construct water hydrant in front of their depots and purchase fire engines to fight any outbreak of fire in the area.
However, nothing else was heard about the issue ever since, despite the fact that the oil companies had failed to abide by the spirit and letters of the MoU.
The International Association for Impact Assessment, IAIA, defines an environmental impact assessment as the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made.
In his own view, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, Abdullahi Sobola, said: “EIAs are unique in that they do not require adherence to a predetermined environmental outcome, but rather they require decision makers to account for environmental values in their decisions and to justify those decisions in light of detailed environmental studies and public comments on the potential environmental impacts of the proposal.”
Fashola offers space for tank farms
In the light of these facts, Governor Fashola called for the relocation of all the tank farms from within the Apapa area.
He said: “Government must understand that its business is the welfare of its people and it cannot deliver that by amateurish standard. This place was not designed for fuel discharge, but they have converted it for that, with all sorts of permits given by regulatory agencies, such as the DPR and the PPMC.
“I think that agencies of the Federal Government must step up their safety compliance levels. Everybody must do his/her job and that is short term. The long term is to relocate all these facilities away from residential areas. Lagos State is ready to provide these facilities.”
Fashola urged the Federal Government to take advantage of the Oil and Gas Section at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in its relocation plan.
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