Residents of Satellite Town in Ijegun area of Lagos State on Wednesday called for the relocation of the petroleum tank farms in the area, claiming they posed a threat to lives and property.
The Chairman of the Satellite Town Forum, Mr Michael Imitimi, made the call at an investigative hearing organised by an Ad hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on incessant explosions in the area, in Abuja.
According to Imitimi, Satellite town is a residential area and the primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and property of the people.
He said that it had been a residential area since 1976, after it was earmarked and gazetted in 1975.
“In 2012, we started seeing the building of 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 tank farms and eight other villages near the town.
He said that big trucks come in hundreds to the area and residents were at the mercy of the farm 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.
Litimi appealed to the House to do the needful by relocating the tank farms.
Earlier, Mr Adebowale Olujimi, Chairman, Ijegun-Egba Tank-farm Owners and Operators Association, told the committee that the owners obtained approval from all 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, N147.5 million was spent for the rehabilitation of Marwa and Chipet roads in the area.
He said that the association had spent two billion naira addressing pressing infrastructural deficit in the area, including a fire station.
According to Olujimi, with over two trillion naira 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.
