AYO (as he was fondly called by his colleagues) worked with one of the Flour Mills located in the heart of Apapa before his death in a recent boat accident. The deceased worked with the defunct Ideal Flour Mills before the company retrenched him. He used his entitlements to build a low-cost house in Ikorodu where he lived with his wife and children. Continue...
When another Flour Mill based in Apapa offered him a fresh employment, Ayo, found it too expensive and cumbersome to be coming to work from Ikorodu. The situation was worsened by the perennial traffic jam not only in the Ikorodu axis, but also along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, hence Ayo opted to rent a room across the Waterside because it was cheaper and more accessible to his new company. This advantage, however, turned sour as Ayo died in a boat mishap recently. When his corpse was later found after about two days intensive search, the eyes had been gorged out by fishes. He was buried by the waterside as tradition requires that those who drown in the river be buried by the side of the same river.
Ayo would probably be alive today if he had not taken the decision to squat in a building across the Atlantic Ocean due mainly to the traffic jam that has unsettled many residents of Apapa and its environs and led to the closure or relocation of non-shipping companies in the business hub.
Busiest seaports, tank farms
Indeed going to Apapa from any part of Lagos is akin to travelling through the biblical “valley of the shadow of death.” The reason for this description is not far-fetched. Apapa is home to the nation’s busiest seaports, tanks farms and other blue chip companies, hence the traffic snarl on virtually all the roads leading into and out of the town.
It is commonplace to find heavy-duty trailers and articulated vans stuck on the highway for several hours, thereby impeding the free flow of traffic in that axis. The traffic jam along the Oshodi-Apapa expressway, has been directly linked to the congestion in both the Apapa and Tin-Can ports and the long queue by petrol tankers to load their consignment from the tank farms in the neighbourhood. Vanguard learnt that the congestion is a fallout of the snail-speed offloading of containers by the port terminal operators and acute shortage of space for the trucks to park while waiting to discharge their consignments.
Fuel imported only through Lagos Ports: Vanguard learnt that more than 90 percent of the petroleum products consumed in the country, come in through the Lagos ports. This necessitated the siting of the tank farms in Apapa where the two major ports are domiciled. While the ports in Lagos are heavily congested with ships queuing to get port calls to berth, the eastern ports are lying fallow due to little or no patronage.
Apart from the Port at Onne in Rivers State, the other seaports located at Port Harcourt, Calabar, Warri and Koko are, mildly put, existing only in name. Freight forwarders in the eastern ports who reeled out the challenges facing their operations, accused the Federal Government of churning out policies that were deliberately targeted at strangulating operations in the eastern ports. The duo of Mr. Uche Solomon Eluagu and Chief Obi Chima told Vanguard last year that the disparity in freight charges has greatly impaired the operations of ports in the eastern flank.
Mr. Eluagu who is the Public Relations Officer of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Onne Seaport chapter, alleged that the Federal Government is encouraging capital flight to Lagos by its deliberate policy of strangulating the eastern ports. He declared: “The government is deliberately strangulating and frustrating the business activities in the eastern ports, thereby creating capital flight to Lagos. Although the two port at Onne which were concessioned to Messrs INTELS Services, can handle oil and gas related cargo, many of importers prefer to use the Lagos ports because of the disparity in freight charges which is tilted in favour of users of Lagos ports.
Non-functional refineries
Apart from the reconstruction of the Oshodi-Apapa expressway by Messrs Julius Nigeria Plc which is progressing at a rather snail’s speed and the parlous state of the link roads, the greatest problem of Apapa which directly and indirectly impacts on the traffic situation in the area, is the location of no fewer than 20 tank farms in the neighbourhood.
The plethora of tank farms in Apapa became necessary following the collapse of the refineries and the massive importation of refined petroleum products through the seaports. Lagos which enjoys a near monopoly of fuel importation in the country, thus became the preferred destination for fuel dealers who send their tankers from all parts of the country to lift the product. Functional refineries at Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri would have lessened the quantity of fuel imported into the country and the number of tankers that come to Lagos to lift the product
The recurring question on the lips of concerned stakeholders is “who approved the construction of these tank farms in Apapa and environs? Did the owners carry out the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, required by the law, to determine the effects of such projects on their neighbourhood and how they would be mitigated before the construction of such projects are commenced? If the EIAs were done, were the reports/recommendations subjected to public scrutiny and open debate as required by the EIA law? What are the measures put in place by the operators of the tank farms to cushion the horrendous impacts of their activities? It is the view of stakeholders that an EIA would have identified the negative multiplier effects of locating tank farms in an already congested neighbourhood.
The Lagos State government which is engaged in a buck-passing game with its Federal counterpart, alleged that no EIA done before siting the tank farms. Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Information and Strategy, Alhaji Lateef Raji maintained thus: “The Lagos State Government was not contacted for Environment Impact Assessment, EIA.
Environmental impact assessment
“The question should be asked, who did they contact for EIA before they located the tank farms? The problem is that the Federal Government has refused to see the state government as a coordinating partner in all its ventures in the state. The point is that the Federal Government has failed to realise that they do not have the capability to achieve urban renewal; it rests on the state. They should not just dabble into every department, all in the name of Federal might,” he said.
One of the tank farm owners who pleaded anonymity, confirmed that his company did not do an EIA before siting its tank farm at Apapa “What do you mean by EIA?” he asked. When Vanguard explained what it meant, he retorted: “No! We didn’t do anything like that. I guess there was nothing like that requirement when we started. But if there was, then the agency of government concerned did not enforce it, because they did not envisage what is happening now”.
90 per cent of tank farms in Apapa
Currently, there are about 20 companies with tank farms and petroleum storage facilities around Apapa, with each storage facility capable of holding between 20 million litres to 50 million litres of petroleum products. According to data of petroleum products’ allocations released by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Nigeria currently imports about 4.8 billion litres of petroleum products per quarter. Almost all of these importations are done through the Apapa ports, as about 90 per cent of the tank farms in the country are located around the Apapa area. To evacuate these 4.5 billion litres of petroleum products from the tank farms in Apapa per quarter, about 136,364 tankers, with an average capacity of about 33,000 litres are required.
Negative impact
This translates to about 1,515 tankers with a capacity of 33,000 litres plying the Apapa axis on a daily basis to lift petroleum products from these tank farms to different parts of the country. In addition to risks posed by locating these tanks close to the ports and residential areas, the tankers also pose serious risks to road users, the environment and the society.
Worst of all the negative impacts of the tankers, is the perennial traffic situation around the Apapa area. Over the years the tankers have made life unbearable for other road users and businesses around the area, leading to questions over the approval process of these tank farms in Apapa. The issues of the approval process for these tank farms were called to question in 2012, when officials of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA, sealed the premises of five of the oil tank farms’ owners for violation of the state’s environmental laws.
LASEPA disclosed that the oil companies were shut for siting tank farms less than 200 metres away from residential area and operating tank farms without submission of Environmental Impact Assessment report to the relevant government agencies. However, the premises of the tank farms owners were re-opened after one week, after the companies signed a memorandum of understanding, MOU, with the Lagos State Government.
LASEPA agreed with the oil companies that a consultant will be employed to conduct a post-impact assessment of the area to ascertain the extent of environmental pollutions that may have been impacted.
The Lagos State Government also mandated the oil companies, as part of numerous safety measures, to construct water hydrant in front of their depots and purchase fire engines to fight any outbreak of fire in the area. However, nothing else was heard about the issue ever since, despite the fact that the oil companies have failed to abide by the spirit and letters of the MOU.
Relocate tank farms to Lekki EPZ
A few of months ago, when a tanker discharging fuel went up in flames, at Emordi Street in Olodi-Apapa area of Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government, near the vicinity of the tank farms, it took divine intervention to save the entire community from been gutted by fire. Vanguard recalls that the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has had cause to call for the relocation of all the tank farms from within the Apapa area.
“Government must understand that its business is the welfare of its people and it cannot deliver that by amateurish standard. This place was not designed for fuel discharge, but they have converted it for that, with all sorts of permits given by regulatory agencies, such as the DPR and the PPMC. I think that agencies of the Federal Government must step up their safety compliance levels. Everybody must do his/her job and that is short term. The long term is to relocate all these facilities away from residential areas. Lagos state is ready to provide these facilities,” Fashola said
Fashola urged the Federal Government to take advantage of the Oil and Gas Section at the Lekki Free Trade Zone in its relocation plan.
Although the former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, promised to relocate the tank farms along the Oshodi/Apapa expressway as a way of finding a lasting solution to the unending traffic gridlock, it is the view of stakeholders that the relocation should be hastened as they (tank farms) have become an economic and social nuisance to residents and business concerns in the Apapa area.
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