The Lagos State Government yesterday raised the alarm over the siting of many tank farms in Apapa without requisite permit. The illegal tank farms, according to the state government, pose security threat to lives and property.
The Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Taofiq Tijani, who revealed this at a media briefing on the activities of his ministry in the last one year, expressed worry over the development, saying government would soon begin clamp down on owners of the illegal tank farms.
He said the government had taken necessary measures to avert the repeat of gas explosion which rocked MRS Tank Farm in Apapa early in the year.
Tijani said: "Our research revealed that a lot of tank farms operating the state either do not have permit or are located on an unapproved sites.
"But we are at the stage of collating the data because we are working with the relevant authorities. There is a federal regulatory body that issues the permit while the state Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development also gives permit for the location of the tank farm.
"We found out that some of them do not have the requisite permit for operation, until we finish our reports, anyone found operating illegally or found in an unapproved environment, the law will definitely take its course, I assure you. The ministry is engaging relevant stakeholders on the issue."
Tijani insisted that the ministry would scrutinize valid documents from the operators, such as approval to construct from the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, authorisation by the police, Federal/ State Fire Service permit, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), licenses, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report and perimeter survey.
The commissioner, however, said that plans had been concluded to establish an early warning geodynamics centre to monitor and detect likely occurrence of natural disasters like earth tremors, earth quakes, ocean surges and flooding, among others.
National Mirror
Anything illegal is always a very bad thing in whatever situation in Nigeria. That's why it's always a bad omen.