* Save our N2tr investments, owners beg lawmakers
Residents of Satellite Town in Ijegun area of Lagos have requested for the relocation of the petroleum tank farms from their community, lamenting the threat to lives and property.
Chairman of the Satellite Town Forum, Mr. Michael Imitimi, made the request at the investigative hearing organised by an ad hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on incessant explosions in the area.
According to Imitimi, Satellite Town is a residential area and the primary responsibility of government is to protect the lives and property of the people.
He said Satellite Town has been a residential area since 1976, after it was earmarked and gazetted in 1975.
“In 2012, we started seeing the building of petroleum tank farms in the community, and this has caused us a lot of problems,” Imitimi said.
According to him, there is a short road that links the town, the petroleum tank farms and eight other villages near the town.
He said big trucks come in hundreds to the area and residents are at the mercy of the farms owners.
“The last incident that happened claimed lives; it is a very bad situation and we are appealing to the House not allow a reoccurrence,” he said.
He appealed to the House to do the needful by ordering the relocation of the petroleum tank farms.
Earlier, Chairman of Ijegun-Egba Tank-farm Owners and Operators Association, Mr. Adebowale Olujimi, told the committee that the owners obtained approval from relevant authorities before the farms were built in 2013.
He said that in 2013, the association spent N13 million on access road rehabilitation and N350 million on road construction to the tank farms.
Olujimi said that between 2014 and 2017, they spent N147.5 million to rehabilitate Marwa and Chipet roads in the area.
He said the association has spent N2billion addressing the pressing infrastructural deficit in the area, including a fire station.
According to Olujimi, with over N2trillion in assets, coupled with the servicing of loans from various institutions, a relocation of the tank farm will be a great shock to investors and financial institutions.
He said that 25 per cent of national petroleum product comes from the tank farms and recommended that the Marwa Road, which is the only access road, be expanded to ease traffic and enhance security.
Olujimi also recommended that a central fire station be established in Ijegun to further assure the community of security of lives and property.
The committee resolved to visit the area for assessment and reconvene another meeting to resolve the matter.