Ugo Aliogo
Residents of Satellite in Lagos, under the aegis of the Satellite Town Forum, have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to relocate tank farms and container terminals in the area, stating that the deplorable condition of the road in Satellite town was due to the constant wear and tear caused by the trucks and trailers that operate at the bonded warehouse in Alakija, Lagos.
Disclosing this in Lagos, during a protest march, the Chairman Satellite Town Forum, Governor Imitini, said the trucks and trailers constitute a slur in human activity as it subjects residents to a peculiar reprehensible squalor of state of nature.
He lamented that the cries of distress were yet to be acted upon by the authorities, adding that the private investors have placed the people under siege.
According to Imitini, “Since 2013, we have commenced a contrite struggle against the structures which were fewer then. Our whispers overtime amassed to groans, in 2018, we sent an SOS to the president and governor of Lagos State and all the relevant institutions and agencies of government. We summed it up with a mega press conference on December 4. We thought we had attracted a reprieve that would douse all our sad past. But our conditions have worsened as satellite town situation.
“We appeal to the federal and state government to save our lives by relocating the tank farms as well as revoking the licenses of those that fraudulently procured. None of them engaged the community in an EIA before their approvals. We ask that they leave the community at most five years.
“They should be relocated. Their licenses should be audited and those who fraudulently got it should be sanctioned and their licences revoked. That corruption should be fought.”
According to him, despite several appeal made to the President and the Lagos state government, the situation has deteriorated, saying “we had in the said correspondence presented the squalor and distress we suffer in our community, owning to tank farms and container terminals.”
He called on federal government to construct large underground culverts across the depot road for onward routing to the sea, noting that there is need to remove tank farms facilities sited on direct flood channels.
Continuing, Imitini added: “There is need for dualisation of Mumuni Adio Badmus road, construction of the planned four alternative roads to lead residents off the central roads usually taken over by tankers and trailers. Construction of deep and large spaced water/flood channels asides the Mumuni Adio Badmus road, reconstruction of old Ojo road and relocation of bonded terminal at Alakija bus stop, cancellation of the container terminal project at Zone 2 Liverpool Estate and construction of temporary tanker and trailer park.”
