THOUSANDS of Apapa residents in the Amuwo/Odofin Local Government of Lagos State are sitting on a keg of gunpowder. The illegal business of fuel hawking has become their means of livelihood.
On October 29, last year, properties worth several millions of naira were destroyed by fire in the area. Five trucks, five cars, 14 motorcycles and 35 makeshift shops also went up in flames.
Apapa is home to Nigeria’s maritime industry and the largest seaport in the West African sub-region.
To many residents, warehousing petrol scooped from tankers in residential apartments to resell in containers and bottles is business for as long as they smile to the banks daily. They have been taking advantage of the six depots in their domain and the thousands of trucks loading petroleum products to engage in illegal fuel deals.
Ironically, the government agencies – police, Navy and Prison Services – that should caution the perpetrators of the illegal act seem to have been compromised.
Thriving illegal business
Almost every house within the community, where the country’s largest seaport is located, has become a makeshift depot as residents keep drums in their rooms.
Those who hoard products re-sell to retailers who hawk them in water bottles on shelves in front of their houses. They have as patrons commercial motorcyclists, artisans, vulcanisers and drivers.
A source identified the hawkers as family members of security personnel. With impunity and self-confidence, some place sign boards with inscription “fuel is available” on their shops. Owners of the shops sell other materials ranging from foodstuff to clothing materials. Some of them operate video rentals, barbing saloons and even engage in food vending.
Those buying in large quantities are often led into the residential building-turned illegal depots that have become a filling station to motorcyclists, especially, the apartments on Otun Street.
The only petrol station in the area, SOT petrol station, has been abandoned because of the flourishing illegal business and availability of cheaper fuel at the black market. The station that used to dispense between 10, 000 to 13,000 litres daily before the advent of the fuel racketeering, as at the last count, was selling below 4,000 litres daily.
A commercial motorcyclist (Okada rider), who introduced himself as Audu, said he has never refueled at any filling station for two years.
“Oga, how do you want me to buy petrol at the pump price when that one (pointing to a fuel displayed in ragolis water bottle) is available? According to him, “it is cheaper to buy from there if one wants to make headways in this Okada business”.
Modus Operandi
A 50-litter keg which sells for N7, 500 at filling stations goes for N5, 000 and that of 25 litres which ordinarily goes for N3, 625 is sold for N2, 500 at the black market. Others are repackaged in small containers and sold for between N200 to N1000.
More embarrassing and unbelievable when The Nation visited the area, was that fuel hawkers operated freely opposite the police station area and adjacent to the gate of the Kirikiri Prison, where Okada riders have their park.
One of the hawkers, in his late 30s was seen dispensing fuel with funnelfrom plastic containers and big bowls as if it was kerosene with impunity.
A senior prison service official who spoke under the condition of anonymity lamented that corruption has eaten deep into the community.
“In the last few years, a task force was deployed to this area to stop this mess, but they soon joined in the illegal business they were deployed to curb. In fact, they, at times, levied the truck drivers so that they will look elsewhere when the fuel is being scooped from their trucks after loading. It is all a chain of illegal business.” he said
According to him, a lot of prison officials operate through their wives, thus making it impossible for law enforcers to stop the business.
He alleged that the second petrol station in the vicinity, Prowa, which was built on a land acquired near the prison gate and a church despite warnings that the site was unsuitable for such venture. The church took the daeler to the court and got a judgment to stop the opening of the petrol station despite its completion.
Some of the riders at the station explained their preference for cheaper alternatives. One of them, who identified himself as Abubakar, confirmed that most of the kiosks and shops inthe community hawk petrol.
The looming disaster
On major streets, such as Cardoso, Ikudehinbo, Amuda, Adeyemo, Agunbiade, Akere, Ilaje, Karimu, Igunnu, Alloch, Otun and Magbesa, it was fuel hawking galore. Most of the houses on these streets have mechanics, vulcanisers, welder, fried yam and beans cake sellers and suya spot and iron benders who use materials that can easily ignite fire.
A landlord in Agunbiade Street, who simply identified himself as Baba Ibeji, said no single residential building should be allowed near a petrol depot not to talk of about six petrol depots owned by members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria (IPMAN).
The retired teacher said: “The sad story is that anytime there is fire, it usually wreaked havoc. That building over there No 3 Karimu Street was razed down because plenty petrol was deposited there. Similarly, another fire engulfed the junction that leads to this community in October 2016 and properties worth millions of naira got burnt. Five people died.
“Most of the houses here are more or less stores for black market business. Some of the fuel consignments come to Kirikiri through the water side at the wee hour of the night. Even if the tanker drivers are not loading, fuel hawking will still be a booming business here.”
Baba Ibeji added that he had witnessed four major fire disasters in the area.
“Any time this happened, for days I will not be able to sleep knowing fully well that a day may come when we will all wake up and not see Kirikiri community again due to fire disaster.”
He said most of the landlords were guilty of collecting fees from the trunk drivers loading at the depot.
“They see it as a business rather than a crime. There is even a landlord here who shield all the oil racketeers. Everybody knows him here. He was the one who sold some of the plots of land where the depots were located. He collects huge amount of money from IPMAN quarterly and nobody can go against him in the community. There is no police officer who does not know him but all kept mute about their nefarious business activities.”
Corroborating this view, a top official of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the landlord recruited boys who see to his interests.
“There is no vessel that comes to Kirikiri that will not settle the man. That is why all those who are storing petrol in various houses in the community will always have his backing, otherwise such a person will be run out of business,” he said.
The National Coordinator of IPMAN’s anti-pipeline vandalism and product adulteration, Prince Nixon Ahanonu, said that there was a plan in the offing to address the situation.
Ahanonu said: “Since IPMAN started, some people entered the association through the back door which polluted it. We are aware of most of the atrocities being perpetrated at Kirikiri. We are planning to come to Lagos to put a stop to it. Lagos is in our routine that we want to visit very soon.”
A manager with the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the problem was more than mere policing the environment.
“There was a fundamental error from the beginning by the federal and Lagos State governments to have issued an operating licence for most of the operators to build their depot in a densely populated area like Kirikiri.
“All over the world, you cannot see any residential building where highly inflammable products like petrol are being loaded. Therefore, to avert the looming danger, it is beyond mere policing but total evacuation of the people,” he said.
The National Chairman of Tankers Driver Association of Nigeria (PTD), Otunba Sulemon Oladiti, who did not confirm or deny the illegal business being perpetrated by many of his members, said the union was going to set up a task force to look into the matter.
“Against the backdrop of heavy tankers explosion last year, we are now embarking on a training exercise for all our members throughout the country on safety tips and good ethics on the job. Our job is a delicate one. Only God is helping us. All your observations will be integrated in our training programme for our members,” Oladiti said.
The denials
Despite glaring evidences on the street for any visitor to Kirikiri to see that fuel is being hawked around like kerosene, government agencies either kept mute or exonerated their officers.
The Navy Commander in charge of Lagos operation, Commodore Morris Eno, said the Navy officers posted to the entrance of the bridge that leads to Kirikiri were there primarily to control traffic and maintain orderliness among road users.
The implication of this is that they are not saddled with the responsibility of checking the activities of fuel hawker. Eno denied the involvement of his men in the illegal deal.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Superintendent Chinyere Ekenkwo, denied that any of the agency’s officers connived with the black marketers or fuel hawkers for any reason.
“We usually gathered our intelligence report on Kirikiri and Apapa on the activities of the illegal fuel hawkers before we can move in to arrest. In the past, few arrests were made, it is a continuous exercise and we are not relenting on our efforts,” she said.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Prison Service, Mr. Biyi Jeje, exonerated prison officials from the illegal business.
The Lagos State government said the attention of the state government had been drawn to the dangerous and potentially disastrous practice in the area.
Commissioner of Information and Strategy Steve Ayorinde said: “Government has since taken action by sensitising the residents to desist from this act. The police station there has been duly informed and the sole administrator in that LCDA will proceed with further sensitisation and monitoring to ensure that the area is rid of this combustible trend.”
Way out
The State Commandant of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Otunba James Udoma, said all hands must be on deck to curb the dangerous business.
He explained that several times his men tried to arrest some of these culprits, but the police were not helping matters.
“Some of our men were arrested and taken to court by the police with the excuse that we are not a registered body. But this is not true, we are dully registered and it was the Police College in Ikeja that trained some of our personnel. This is the unfortunate situation we found ourselves,” he said.
Udoma added that only community policing bodies, such as the VGN, could curb the evil act “because our men and officers are part of the community”.
The Deputy Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Mr. Bode Oluwafemi, said alarm was raised when the tank farms sprung up indiscriminately in Lagos.
Oluwafemi said: “We have a nation where corporations in cahoots with unscrupulous government officials flout our laws at will. The question remains whether appropriate Environmental Impact Assessment was conducted before approvals were given.”
He went on: “Apart from the constant fear of fire, those tank farms contain large volume of hydrocarbons and dangerous chemicals; any leakage will cause untold health hazards on the people. We have seen huge contamination of ground waters as has been variously recorded around the tank farms and some communities along pipeline routes where wells and boreholes are filled with petrol, diesel or kerosene.”
The environmentalist said there is need to begin strict effacement of the law on such environment.
“First they should put immediate moratorium on the construction of new tank farms. The state government should then begin to work with federal authorities on how to relocate the tank farm to virgin lands outside the city,” he said.
A human rights activist, Comrade Mark Adebayo, said it was sad to have such a densely populated community in a location where there is a preponderance of fuel depots.
Adebayo said: “The fire incident of October last year will be a child’s play if the government doesn’t act immediately. Aside from tanker accidents, the large quantities of stored Premium Motor Spirit within the communities around the depots are a highly inflammable material and can cause humongous human casualty in the event of a fire outbreak. Being a poorly planned terrain, fire fighters won’t have easy access to the areas affected. That place – God forbid – is a disaster waiting to happen unless government wakes up to its responsibilities.
“The immediate means of averting the looming danger is to stop the tanker drivers from selling petrol illegally in Jerry cans to roadside vendors. Unfortunately, you can’t depend on our security agencies to enforce such an order because they can be easily compromised. As a matter of fact, I’m sure they are aware that such illegal and dangerous business has been going on for long in that place but choose to turn a blind eye simply it is a mutually beneficial criminality.”
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