There are indications that many buildings around the Ijegun area of Satellite Town in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos may soon suffer collapse as a result of the operations of a tank farm around the area; First Deepwater Discovery Limited; which has led to increase in petroleum tanker activities.
Some residents of the area very close to the depot told Shipping Position Daily under anonymity that “whenever the petroleum tankers are passing on the street, you will feel the foundation of the building shaking terribly”
There are indications that many buildings around the Ijegun area of Satellite Town in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos may soon suffer collapse as a result of the operations of a tank farm around the area; First Deepwater Discovery Limited; which has led to increase in petroleum tanker activities.
Some residents of the area very close to the depot told Shipping Position Daily under anonymity that “whenever the petroleum tankers are passing on the street, you will feel the foundation of the building shaking terribly”
Apart from this, they pointed out that many of their buildings now have cracked walls and that it is a matter of time before the inevitable happens.
Surprisingly, unlike the Kirikiri resident that over the years have written petition letters to the State and Federal governments for the immediate relocation of the tank farms that invaded the area, the residents of satellite town have not done anything to fight the influx of tank farm construction in the area.
A resident, Mr. Gbenga Atobatele who resides at Pioneer Street spoke to our correspondent and lamented that the roads leading into the street which has the depot is equally not motorable and that tanker drivers usually make it difficult event to gain access into their homes.
“I cannot use my car as I want to because whenever the tank farm is loading, the whole area will be full of tankers, even okada (bike) or Napep (tricycle) cannot get here because they can’t afford to struggle with the tanker drivers”
“As am talking to you now, the walls of many building are cracked already, whenever any heavy duty truck is passing, you will feel the pressure shaking the building. Whenever it is raining you will see the water from the lake flooding the whole area, it comes and goes just like the one at bar beach. We have complained about the situation but they seem to be powerful than we are” he said.
A union member at the NUPENG Deepwater unit however hinted our correspondent that many houses around the area cannot survive for long because the owners did not do a proper pilling of the ground before building houses on them. The area is also a very swampy area, hence the influx of tank farms.
Our source also said that many of the house owners in the area will have no choice but to sell their properties to the tank farms, “the tank farms will buy them over because they cannot cope here, many of the houses have been water logged, there is water under the foundation”
Speaking further he said that “As it is now, it is a single lane road that leads to this depot, whenever a tanker breaks down on that road, it becomes a problem and others will not be able to go until the broken down truck is removed”
Apart from the First Deepwater depot, two other depots are already on advanced level of construction and work is earnestly going on at other sites around the area.
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