21st March, 2013
The Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria (JEPTFON) on Wednesday called for relocation of all residents near tank farms in Lagos.
Mr. Enoch Karnawa, the JEPTFON Executive Secretary, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Karnawa spoke against the backdrop of an explosion at a tank farm at Tin Can Island on 8 January.
Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State had said that the state government would collaborate with the Federal Government to relocate the jetties.
He alleged that the explosion occurred due to poor planning and absence of maritime safety standards at the jetties.
Karnawa, however, said that relocation of the jetties would be a Herculean task and that the tank farms had economic advantages.
“The tank farms have other roles to play apart from supplying products. They generate employment and also pay taxes to the state government,” he said.
Karnawa said it was easier to relocate the residents near the tank farms than to relocate the tank farms.
“The government should relocate the residential houses and not the tank farms because the tank farms are capital intensive.
“It is easier to relocate the residential houses because the investments in them are not as much as that of the tank farms.
“In actual fact, the tank farms are always located by the seaside, apart from the ones at Apapa, to ensure access to ships bringing in petroleum products,” Karnawa said.
NAN recalls that an explosion occurred at a tank farm at Tin-Can Island Port on 8 January when a barge carrying petrol was trying to discharge its cargo at the MRS Jetty.