Villagers flee as Lagos pipeline fire rages

Officials of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps at the scene of a pipeline inferno at Ijeododo in Ijegun, Lagos.
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RESIDENTS of Ijeododo in Ijegun, Lagos have fled the community following a pipeline explosion and the inferno in the village, located in Ojo Local Government of the state.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation pipeline exploded on Monday night  in the community.

 As at 9.15pm on Tuesday, no casualty had been reported in the explosion said to have been caused by suspected pipeline vandals.

Our correspondent gathered the incident might worsen the fuel scarcity in the South-West as the pipeline transports petrol pumped from Atlas Cove.

 The NNPC, it was learnt, had discontinued supply of petrol through the line following the explosion. The corporation pumps about 11 million litres of petrol per day through the pipeline.

News Agency of Nigeria reported that fire fighters arrived the scene four hours after the fire started but could not immediately access the area.

The spokesman of National Emergency Management Agency  Mr.  Ibrahim Farinloye, said, “We contacted the fire fighters though they could not get to the scene because of the nature of the area.

“We also contacted officials of the NNPC who have blocked all the outlets, which is why the fire is subsiding.”

Farinloye spoke as residents of  Ijeododo recounted their experiences of the explosion.

Mr. Sunday Obiase, a dispatch rider, told NAN that he was in his wife’s shop when they noticed the fire.

Obiase said when the fire was noticed, people began to flee their homes as its intensity grew.

A landlord, Mr Sabinus Igbozuluke, said, “I gathered my certificates and other important belongings because the fire could get beyond control.”

According to a man, who identified himself as Baba Tunde, the vandals came through FESTAC.

“There is no road from Ijeododo to the site, everywhere is swampy, you can only pass through FESTAC which is closer,” he said.

Another landlord, Mr. Vitalis Ukewui, said such incident occurred in 2011  and left the area in darkness for over seven months.

“Last year, this same thing happened and we were left in darkness for over seven months until we paid some levy,” he said.

He expressed the fear that since the outbreak was more severe than the previous one, it could leave the whole area in darkness.

A spokesperson for the NNPC, Ms. Tumini Green, said there was still fire at the scene of the explosion. But she added that officials of the Pipelines And Products Marketing Company Limited, a subsidiary of the NNPC, were still trying to put out the fire.

She said the activities of vandals,caused the inferno.

“This had always happened, and we have PMS on the line,” she said.

The Chairman, Independent petroleum marketers Association of Nigeria, Western Zone, Mr. Olumide Ogunmade, described the incident as “a bad thing,” that would have an effect on product supply.

According to him, the Ije-Ododo axis is a route to all depots, and the explosion at the line was like cutting off the supply route from Atlas Cove.

He said, “It is serious. It is like going back to square one.

“Government needs to tackle pipeline vandalism holistically. We must not surrender to vandals.

“Government has the resources to fight this. It should set up the machinery needed.”