Ikotun Fire Kills Two, Burns 30 Cars
By Aaron Ukodie
The petroleum pipeline explosion incident, today, at Ijegun, in the Ikotun area, in which two people have been confirmed dead and 30 vehicles burnt, has reawaken fears in residents of Ijegun-Satellite Town, Satellite Town and Navy Town.
Ijegun-Satellite Town, Satellite Town and Navy Town communities, in the Agboju Amuwo area of Lagos state, are currently in danger of possible future explosions from the over 15 Tank Farms located in their environment.
Over two explosions have occurred in the area in the past year, since the tank farms were located there, despite opposition by residents, some seven years ago when the tank farms began operation and their effects on the area and residents began to be noticed.
When the news of the Ijegun-Ikotun incident broke and some newspapers wrongly reported that the incident occurred in the Ijegun-Satellite area, residents who began to share the news gathered again to bemoan the increasing danger the tank farms pose to the three communities.
Our reporter, who drove to the depot where the tank farms are located and around the routes the tankers carrying fuel from the depot pass, to have on the spot assessment and confirm the news widely reported in the online version of the traditional media, met with residents who prayed that such occurrence would not happen again in the area.
The eWorldnews reporter saw relief in the eyes of residents when they eventually confirmed that the fire incident did not occur in their area but, regrettably, at another Ijegun area located at Ikotun.
The Satellite Town Central Residents Association (STCRA) had on May 2013 sat at various meetings with the Tank Farm owners, in their bid to locate their business in the area. The association raised concerns on the implication of establishing tank farms in that vicinity, but he tank farm owners disregard it, even ignoring the international practice which did not favour their citing in the area.
Those at the meetings which SCTRA had with the tank farm owners held at Alausa and Golden Tulip, where representatives of NNS Wey, representative of the tank farmers, Emabed, those of the Lagos State Government, the Federal Ministry of Environment and other members of the host communities.
All the government officials and the tank farms owners spurned all the entreatise by the STCRA and went ahead to locate the tank farms in the area. Now over 500 tankers come into the area daily to load fuel from the farm. They pass through the front of the Oriade Local Community Development Authority (OLCDA), on the narrow road located in the heart of the community and then through Old Ojo Road, the only access road through which residents pass to the express road that leads to Mile Two, Festac and Badagry.
Since their location in that area the residents have witnessed two incidents of explosions and fire which have led to the death of some residents and caused heavy traffic gridlock. The Marwa and Old Ojo Roads have become impassable and so are the Assembly and Alakija-Navy Town roads which have become a night mare for commuters and other road users.
On a bad day tankers line up on the about 300 -metre long Marwa road and 400 -metre long section of the Old Ojo Road, that begins from V-Niger Bus stop and on to Alajika Bus Stop, making passage of other cars and road users impossible for many hours.
General Secretary of tSTCRA, Engr. Tom Isuekpe, who spoke to eWorldNews regretted the insensitivity of both the Lagos and Federal governments to the plights of the residents of those communities, and also for the safety of the Nigerian military armament located in the Navy Town area.
Isukpe said as at today, the tank farm owners have failed to implement all the recommendations of the meeting that SCTRA had with the owners, Lagos State and the Federal Governments.
No fire service stations have been provided for the communities and they have failed to construct the appropriate road networks which they promised to construct.
Another resident, Thompson Onwubiko, on learning that the petroleum pipeline explosion did not happen at the tank farm depot in Ijegun-Satellite Town retorted: “It happened at Ijegun Ikotun. God will save Satellite Town Ijegun that has many Tank Farms with heavily loaded on Marwa road”.
A resident, on seeing the pictures from Ikotun said, “This is just a pipe line fire that did these havoc. Satellite Town has over 10 tank farms with over 500 tankers load with an average of 40,000 litres of PMS per tanker queuing daily on Marwa Road
The pipeline fire incident in Ikotun, in which two have been confirmed dead and 30 cars burnt, has been attributed to the activities of vandals who engaged in illegal ‘bunkering’ at the Fire Junction, Ijegun, within the vicinity where NNPC pipelines were buried.
The vandals had already siphoned petrol into a 33,000 litres tanker while a second tanker of the same capacity was being loaded when security agencies suddenly intercepted them.
“While trying to escape, some of the siphoned fuel spilled into the drainage and the vandals were alleged to have set the spilled fuel on fire in a bid to deter the security agencies from apprehending them.
“The fire eventually returned to the pipeline point where the vandals siphoned the fuel and exploded with escalating fire which led to two fatalities and over 30 vehicles burnt.
“The actual loss will be determined upon conducting post disaster enumeration after the fire has been put out”, according to a report credited to an official of The Lagos Emergency Management Agency (LEMA).
He noted that respondents at the scene included men of the Lagos State Fire Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps and the police.
The spokesperson for NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, said the safety of firefighters needed to be assured before the fire would be put off. He said, “Pipeline fire is a specialised fire management; not all firemen can handle it.
“NNPC safety firemen are specially trained to handle such delicate incident and that is why NEMA mobilised the NNPC to the scene.
“It will take time before the inferno can be tackled until the supplies from the pipeline is weak and disabled when supplies are shut down and the main source and valves closest to the scene.</p>
“In as much as lives and property of the people are not threatened, the fire will be put off as soon as the safety of the fire officers are also assured.”
Satellite Town and Ijegun-Satellite Town also has pipelines running through the heart of the communities.
