Deadly Blast: Lawmaker Wants Apapa Tank Farms Relocated

Eromosele Ebhomele

The member representing Apapa Constituency 1 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, western Nigeria, Mufutau Egberongbe, has renewed his call for the relocation of tank farms from the Apapa area because of the danger they pose to the area and its residents.

Egberongbe, Chairman of the House Committee on Physical Planning and Urban Development, stated this while reacting to the deadly explosion that occurred in his constituency on Wednesday, saying that the risk posed by the tank farms in the area far outweigh the economic gains to the country.

The lawmaker, who had clamoured for the relocation of the farms over three years ago, recently petitioned the Lagos State Government to come to the aid of the citizens of the state resident in the area.

“I have been calling on the Federal Government for a very long time to relocate these tank farms away from Apapa. The incident that happened at Folawiyo Energy on Wednesday night points to the fact that if something drastic is not urgently done to get these tank farms and tankers away from Apapa, then we are gradually inviting danger.

“If a car laden with bomb was allegedly parked where tankers were parked, as people claimed, then it means some people are hell bent on causing chaos in Lagos. I do not want to believe that these so-called Boko Haram members are gradually finding their way into Lagos.

“God forbid, if one of the tank farms had been affected, the whole of Apapa would have been in mourning today.

“Let’s even agree that it wasn’t a bomb that was planted in the car, even if someone had thrown a firework among the tankers parked there, imagine what would have happened,” he lamented, adding that there was no reason for tankers to park indiscriminately as is being experienced in the area currently.

He urged the government to revive the railway system currently in place in the Apapa area of Lagos for the conveyance of goods, containers or even combustible materials.

The blast, which government authorities say was caused by gas cylinder, resulted in the death of four people.

The police and state government said they have commenced investigation into the incident which happened just about four hours after an explosion killed at least 23 people at Emab Plaza, a popular shopping mall at the Wuse 2 area of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.