Monday 2 September 2013

LAGOS STATE 'FROWNS' AT NSCDC'S ARREST OF RESIDENTS OVER OIL VANDALISM

The Lagos State Government has frowned at the "indiscriminate" arrests of its residents by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) over stealing of petroleum products at Ejigbo, Lagos.


The civil defence has arrested some residents over oil related issues.

On August 26, officers of the NSCDC sealed up two houses which have wells supplying fuel to the residents - the house owners allegedly dug their wells deep enough to connect to the pipelines of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Eight persons were arrested in connection to the incident.

But in a statement on Sunday, the Lagos State government said that it was "uncomfortable" with the arrests because the NSCDC failed to conduct a proper investigation to confirm the suspects were culpable.

"While the state government supports every action of the federal government to curb stealing of petroleum products and pipeline vandalization, it frowns at any act that could constitute an infraction on the rights of residents through wantonly unjust arrests by officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps," said Tunji Bello, Commissioner for the Environment.

The suspects had insisted that they alerted the officials of the NNPC after they discovered fuel in their water wells.

"For many years, we have pumped water from that well. It was only months ago that we discovered that fuel was leaking into our water," Funke Ogunba, one of the arrested residents, had said.

"Immediately my husband and I noticed this, we reported the incident to the Ejigbo Police Division and to some NNPC officials. They came twice to our house with a tanker to empty the borehole.

"They told us that they would be back on Monday (they were arrested on Saturday) to check if there was still fuel. They said if there was any fuel, they would fill up the borehole with sand and dig another one for us."

Mr. Bello said that the state government has continually written to the federal government to draw their attention to the contamination of underground water by petroleum products in some areas in the state.

Areas in the state like Ejigbo, Amuwo Odofin, Ilado, Baruwa have petroleum products seeping into the underground water through ruptured NNPC pipelines.

Mr. Bello said that for over ten years, they have failed to get a response from the federal government.

"The state government has records showing that official letters were written by the immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000," Mr. Bello said.

"More importantly, the present administration of Mr. Babatunde Fashola equally wrote a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, respectively, complaining about the serious oil pollution and high level of degradation that residents of these areas are daily exposed to without any meaningful response," Mr. Bello added.

The state government urged the NNPC to conduct integrity tests on its pipelines across the state and provide the state with information to prevent future recurrence.

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