Port Harcourt Fire: Mayor vows to demolish shanties, illegal structures close to tank farm
By Mike Odiegwu, The Nation
The Mayor of Port Harcourt, Allwel Ihunda, has vowed to begin the demolition of shanties and other illegal structures close to a tank farm at the Abonema Wharf axis of the Rivers State capital.
He blamed the Friday inferno that destroyed goods and property worth millions of naira at the area on storage of adulterated petroleum products in the shanties.
He said: “When we investigated what led to the fire I was told that the fire started as a result of storage of adulterated petroleum products within illegal structures situated on the road to tank farms around the area.
“Unfortunately, the company closed to this place is Shell Petroleum Development Company(SPDC) and I am surprised that they have not responded.
“I have been trying to see if I can get in contact with them, to find out really why they have not responded taking into consideration that they have a facility just close to where the fire incident happened.
“All the illegal structures around here henceforth will cease to exist from Monday next week we are going to demolish all the illegal structures on this road. Because these structures are places where these products are stored that always results in fire outbreaks”.
Reacting to the incident, the state Commissioner for Special Duties, Emeka Onowu, said the fire was caused by the activities of persons living in the shanties.
“Just look at the fire incident going on here. It will tell you that something is fishy. Look at the shanties everywhere.
“If government comes to demolish it, people will start saying the governor is a wicked man. This is a tank farm and explosion came.
“Where you have a tank farm, do you expect people to be cooking or lighting fire around that area? These are the causes of this fire because either they are using gas, firewood or light.
“But fire also is a natural disaster, so you cannot blame anybody. But this one is not a natural disaster. We are trying to handle it by the grace of God.
He commended youths in the area for assisting security agencies and firefighters to put out the inferno.
“This is not the first time that it is happening here. But this is the worst. And by Monday I don’t think we are going to have any shanty here again.”
