Against the backdrop of tank farms that are springing up in Lagos despite government directives that further construction of such tanks should be concentrated out of Lagos, the minister of Interior and Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Oil and Gas limited; Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho has condemned the construction of more depots in Lagos, saying that caution must be observed in the construction of tank farms.
Against the backdrop of tank farms that are springing up in Lagos despite government directives that further construction of such tanks should be concentrated out of Lagos, the minister of Interior and Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer of Integrated Oil and Gas limited; Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho has condemned the construction of more depots in Lagos, saying that caution must be observed in the construction of tank farms.
Ihenacho told Shipping Position Weekly last week in Lagos that the setting up of more tank farms should be justified on the basis of demand for petroleum products and its supply, even as he insinuated that there is really no need for more tank farms in very crowded areas. He argued that the level of availability of products compared to the past years has improved tremendously.
According to the minister who is also a Master Mariner, “Tank farms are a product of supply and demand, it is not just something you decide to establish because you like it, if there is a supply gap or there is a demand for them then they must be established, so the issue should depend on demand and supply”
“One major thing that has happened over the past years in the retailing and availability of product seems to have disappeared under the present administration, normally it was an annual affair that towards the Christmas period you will definitely have scarcity of petroleum products, but you will notice that it did not happen this last year” he argued.
Speaking further, he explained that the current situation is obtainable because of the efforts of the present administration to ensure that the right policies are enforced to better lot of Nigerians.
“I can tell you that why you are having all these changes is because of the policy of the present administration, when the president has indeed made it a priority and he continues to promise that he would make sure that we have policies in place to ensure that we have adequate petroleum product and that we deliver power to the people as quickly as possible, a lot is happening and a lot will still happen in the next few months” he assured.
However, Shipping Position Weekly investigations confirmed that in the past three years, not less than six tank farms have been established in Lagos, four of which were sited at the Kirikiri axis of Apapa Lagos and which have received criticisms from stakeholders in the industry as well as the residents of Kirikiri.
Two new tanks are also being constructed presently at the already congested Ibru yard, while one of them is reported to be set to kick off operations soon.
Responding to these development, Captain Ihenacho maintained that “the bottom line is that wherever it is established it must be done with safety in mind, proper equipment guided by the rules, there is nothing wrong with tank farms, we can have one million of them but the main thing is that they must be built safely and operated safely and they must not be a threat either to the human beings and to the environment”.
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