Palpable fear enveloped the sprawling Ibafon and other tank farm businesses last week as officials of the federal ministry of environment moves in to evaluate their level of compliance with operational and safety guidelines.
The ministry officials were expected in Lagos last week but the visit was postponed in the dying minutes. Sources hinted that although the impending visit is a periodic one, there is anxiety on the part of owners of the sprawling business following allegations that many of them have actually fallen short of minimum standard.
Reliable sources present at the last meeting held by the depot owners association in Lagos confirmed to Shipping Position Weekly that it is always a time of dread for some of the tank farms owners as company that is found not to be complying with the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) provisions, plus other health and
environmental requirements are asked to pay a huge fine.
There are about 21 tank farms within Lagos state alone, all located within the sprawling Ibafon and Kirikiri axis.
Shipping Position Weekly investigations revealed that one of the environmental issues that is likely to catch the attention of the ministry officials is the fact that some of the tank farms that are located along Westminster bus stop may have been taking advantage of the heavy and regular rains that Lagos has witnessed in the last two weeks and the subsequent flooding around that area to pass long hose pipes from their storage facilities onto the highway to discharge accumulated water and other oily substances It will be recalled that the last visit of the ministry of environment officials to the tank farms generated a lot of heat and there are expectations that this one may further bring sanity to their operations and cause them to take HSE issues more seriously.
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