Apapa Gridlock: DPR, NPA Approved Tank Farms without Due Process - LASG

According to a report of the Intergovernmental Committee on Tank Farms in Lagos State, The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) have been blamed for the intractable gridlocks, security challenges and environmental nuisance gravely undermining public order and safety in Apapa and its adjoining environs of the state.

This committee was set up by the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode to look into the roots causes of Apapa’s hydra- headed challenge and work out permanent solution.The committee comprised representatives of the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Navy, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) and other stakeholders.

In its report, the committee said undue political interference was a major factor that emboldened the DPR and NPA to grant approvals without due process for haphazard construction of tank farms in Apapa and its environs. The report said the convenience of discharging imported petroleum products from ocean-going vessels accounted for the clustering of tank farms around Apapa, which housed no fewer than 47.

However, the report observed that all guidelines from the DPR, NPA, Environmental Impact Assessment Law, National Policy on Environment and existing laws for the sitting, construction and operation of tank farms “are adequate, but the structure for monitoring and enforcement of compliance is ambiguous and weak.”It therefore pointed out that the DPR only “grants approval for the construction of tank farms on the presentation of evidence of title of the land rather than the approval from Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development,” the sole building permit authority in the state.

The report noted that the NPA “allocates land and grants approval for construction and operation of tank farms within the port area merely upon the approval of DPR without recourse to the state government.”It added that the manner the DPR and NPA granted approval for the construction and operation of tank farms violated a 2004 Supreme Court judgment, which stipulated that developers including the federal government “shall obtain development permit from the relevant authority for any kind of development.

The apex court declared that the state "has the overriding power or control to determine what is being done on every square metre on land as it is the state that bears the brunt of any disaster. A developer shall, at the time of submitting his application for development permit, present planning technical report in respect of application for any other building as specified in the regulation made pursuant to the law.”

The report lamented that the DPR and NPA breached the judicial precedent, noting that the tank farm operators failed “to follow the prescribed guidelines, which requires them to seek the consent of the state before the construction of the tank farms.It added that tank farm operators “often use armed personnel of the Nigeria Police and Nigeria Armed Forces to prevent and intimidate officials of the state in gaining access to the facilities to monitor and enforce compliance..

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