● Ferdy Agu
The Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has reiterated his call for the enforcement of anti-spill locks on fuel tankers across Nigeria, emphasizing that disasters caused by tanker spills had become alarmingly frequent.
Mbah made this appeal on Tuesday when he received the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs. Zubaida Umar, and her team in his office. The team was in Enugu to flag off the distribution of emergency relief items to victims of Saturday’s tanker explosion at Ugwu Onyeama along the Enugu-Onitsha federal highway, a tragedy that claimed several lives, destroyed vehicles, and consumed goods.
“As I stated when I visited the scene, we have disasters that we obviously could not have envisaged or predicted; and when they happen, we trigger all the responses we have set up,” the governor said.
He, however, expressed concern over the recurrent nature of tanker fire incidents. “This issue of tanker fire or explosion is becoming too recurrent, and I did call on the law enforcement agencies, particularly the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), to ensure the enforcement of the anti-spill lock. This is because if we have anti-spill locks on those tankers carrying inflammable products like petrol and automotive gas oil, we will then be able to mitigate such disasters. Even if the tanker falls, it will still not spill.”
Governor Mbah stressed that the tanker explosion in Enugu was caused by a petrol spill that ignited other vehicles. He reiterated, “I will always want to use this opportunity again to call on the law enforcement agencies to ensure strict enforcement of the anti-spill lock on all our petroleum product tankers. It is extremely important.”
The governor assured that his administration was fully committed to supporting the victims, particularly those undergoing medical treatment. “We have those that are at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), and the Enugu State University of Science and Technology Hospital, Park Lane, and we are taking care of the bills,” he said.
Mbah expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu and NEMA for their quick response and support. “We are deeply grateful for the empathy, commiseration, and the support you have provided. It is also a demonstration of the partnership between the federal government and the sub-nationals, which we would want to entrench. We provided the ever-needed logistics to ensure that these items get to those who are most in need of them,” he concluded.
Mrs. Zubaida Umar, the Director-General of NEMA, while commiserating with the government and people of Enugu State over the tragic incident, praised Governor Mbah’s leadership during the crisis. “I wish to commend you for the timely visit to the scene of the incident and various decisions made, including ensuring that maximum medical attention was given to the survivors,” she said.
She announced that NEMA had donated relief materials to support the victims. These included 200 25kg bags of rice, 200 cartons of spaghetti, 20 cartons of five-litre vegetable oil, 20 cartons of seasoning, 20 cartons of tomato paste, medicaments, and other medical consumables.
The NEMA DG also emphasized the importance of collaboration in responding to disasters. “Today’s flag-off of relief assistance to the victims of the tanker fire is an outcome of the collaborative initiative, which NEMA has put in place to support the population at risk. It is the collective responsibility of all tiers of government to provide support to disaster victims; hence, NEMA is complementing the efforts of the state government,” she stated.
She raised concerns about the increasing frequency of tanker explosions across the country, describing them as a significant challenge. “The increasing cases of tanker fire explosions across Nigeria are not only devastating but also a clog on the wheel of progress and economic development of our communities,” she said.
According to her, such incidents have far-reaching effects. “These incidents have negatively impacted lives, property, the environment, and have a grave potential of slowing down our developmental strides,” Mrs. Umar concluded. GMTNewsng
