On Monday, Lagos State Government and Ijegun-Egba Tank Farm Owners and Operators Association agreed to work together in the regeneration of infrastructure in the area.

At a meeting with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Alausa, the leadership of the association requested the approval of the state government to re-construct and dualise the road leading to the tank farm base in Ijegun.

Sanwo-Olu welcomed the development, saying the state would be setting up a team that would come up the partnership framework with the objective to make the deal beneficial to the residents, the government and the tank farm owners.

The governor hailed the tank farm owners for coming up with the intervention, noting that his government would remain open to partnerships that would bring solution to challenges facing people at the grassroots.

He said: “Today, we seem to have achieved significant progress on a conversation we started long before we came into the government on how to bring about a lasting solution to agitations from Ijegun residents over infrastructural challenge in the area.

“We want to see how we can quickly come about a lasting solution to the challenges, which businesses and residents are currently facing in the area. As a government, we have been forward-looking to solutions, but we seek to solve the problem by seeking partnership that will benefit all of us. So, we welcome the request and we will set up a team that will jointly review what we need to do in the benefit of all stakeholders.

“It is going to be a partnership in which the government would play a prominent role and we expect that, as business people, we all should collectively come together and see how we can resolve it in the interest of all stakeholders.”

Sanwo-Olu described the operation of the tank farms as “critical component” of the nation’s economy, noting that his administration would not fail in responding to issues that would promote ease of doing business.

“As a government, we have the responsibility to respond to the concerns of businessmen doing their businesses in Lagos to ensure that their business continue to flourish. But, more importantly, we also have a responsibility to keep protecting our citizens that are all around where the businesses are located to be sure that they are in a very safe and secured environment,” he said.

The association chairman, Mr. Adebowale Olujimi, praised the governor for assenting to the request, noting that the offer was part of the interventions the tank farms owners were voluntarily engaging in through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy to solve challenges of development in Ijegun.

He said the association would be expecting to meet with the government’s team to harmonise the terms of the partnership, which would involve road construction and provision of healthcare facilities in the area.

Earlier, the governor hosted the chairman of PZ Cussons Plc and members of the manufacturing company’s Board of Directors in his office on courtesy visit.

Sanwo-Olu said his administration’s ongoing drive for infrastructure renewal was aimed at incentivising the private sector to deliver the growth and promote ease of doing business.

The governor said his government considered it important to constantly review the State’s PPP policy, with the objective to build strong partnership with the private sector players in bridging the development gap.

Chief Kola Jamodu, who led the PZ Cussons’ team, assured Sanwo-Olu that the firm would not be taking its business out of the state.

He, however, urged the governor to sustain his administration’s infrastructural renewal effort and incentivise private sector to drive growth.

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The meeting, held at the Lagos House in Marina, was aimed at bringing lasting relief to residents living around the vulnerable areas hosting oil tank farms and depots belonging to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

The Thursday discussion was a follow-up to an informal meeting between the state government and the DPR leadership, following bitter agitations by Ijegun residents whose livelihoods were affected by perennial gridlock resulting from the operations of the oil tank farms.

The governor said the need to assuage the hardship faced by agitated residents led to the move to spearhead a joint action by the state government, DPR and operators of the oil tank farms, which must focus on bringing about lasting relief in the area.

Sanwo-Olu said meetings would not be enough assurance to convince the Ijegun residents on the planned efforts to bring succour to the area.

The governor said the state government and DPR leadership needed to prevent more agitation by physically visiting and meeting the residents to make definitive commitment.

He said: “It is important for us to organise a meeting between us and the tank farm owners to bring out a cohesive plan that would comprehensively address the issues. We should be able to have a walk-through permanent solution that would be sustainable.

“We also need to fix a date and time for a visit to the place and meet the people. Before then, we must have discussed the measures we are bringing up, so that we can make definitive statement and residents can begin to feel the relief they have been expecting.”

The governor praised the DPR for responding to the concerns raised by the state government in response to the residents’ agitation, noting that the collaboration between Lagos and the agency was in the interest of the people.

DPR Acting Director, Mr. Ahmad Shakur, said the agency had addressed some of the issues leading to the residents’ agitations, but added that other measures being taken required the support of the Lagos state government.

After the first meeting with the governor, Shakur said DPR met with the owners of the tank farms and came up with recommendations aimed at addressing the situation at Ijegun.

He said: “In the course of analysing the issues causing the agitations, we discovered that the residents are concerned about two key problems. One is the deplorable state of roads in the area close to the tank farms. The residents complained that if they don’t get out of their house by 4 a.m., most of them would not get to their places of work on time. And they also rush back home by 5 p.m. to escape the gridlock occasioned by movement of oil tankers.

“The traffic gridlock, especially on Marwa Road is horrendous. What DPR did was to invite the depot owners to take up some responsibilities to improve their community relationship. The tank farms’ owners coughed out about N1 billion to award a contract leading to the depot from Marwa Road. They also constructed drainage to drain water from the Depot Road to the lagoon.”

Shakur said the residents demanded for more actions, including building a hospital that could treat accident and burns.

The agency, he said, believed further engagement with residents should involve the state government for greater impacts and also to build confidence around the plans taken by the owners of the tank farms.

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Ijegun, which has been having recurring pipeline vandalism since May 2008, is in the Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area of Lagos State.

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent in the area reported that residents rose to the occasion and foiled what would have been another deadly explosion on Tuesday after vandals attempted to open a pipeline at a market in the community.

Speaking on the development, the Divisional Police Officer at the Isheri Oshun Police Station, SP. Rafiu Akinlade, told NAN that policemen responded immediately they were alerted on the vandalism.

“As soon as a call got to me from the community, I immediately sent out my team but on getting there, the vandals had abandoned their tools and fled.

“However, my men have collected all the tools and pipes they came with for their operation.

“Although we are yet to apprehend the vandal, investigation is going on,” Akinlade said.

A resident of Ijegun community, Mr Victor Mbuba, said  that residents became apprehensive when they heard screams, prompting scores of people to start removing their belongings.

“The smell was thick and this caused panic and fear of another explosion because the memory of the immediate past inferno was still shocking,’’ he said.

Another resident, Vitalis Okonkwo, a student, said his family ran out for safety, following shouts in the neighbourhood.

“When we perceived the fuel split all over the area, we ran out along with others in the neighborhood for fear of being trapped in another explosion.

“Most people are yet to return for fear of another explosion because anything can happen. Nobody wants a repeat of the July 4 explosion,” he said.

His neighbour, Mrs Bridget Umeorah, appealed to the Lagos State government to provide security in the area to discourage pipeline vandalism.

On May 25, 2008, a pipeline explosion occurred in Ijegun community when a truck used in road rehabilitation damaged an oil pipeline, causing a fire outbreak that killed many people and damaged property, estimated at millions of naira.

Oil pipeline vandalism is rampant in oil-bearing Nigeria, perpetrated mainly by unscrupulous people seeking fortunes to make their living.

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Although details of the cause of the fire remains sketchy, it is believed to have been caused by vandals, some of whom had been burnt to death.

The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, said it had alerted the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, about the incident so that further supply through the pipeline could be stopped.

The statement issued by the spokesman of NEMA, South West zone, Ibrahim Farinloye reads:

“NEMA has also called on the safety unit of the corporation to immediately shut down further supplies through pipeline in order to suffocate the fire.

“It is noted that vandals are responsible for the incident and some of them are affected in the inferno.

“Security agencies have cordoned off the area to restrict access of undesirable elements. People should remain calm.”

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