The people of Abonema community in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers to monitor the activities of tanker drivers in the area in order to prevent fire outbreaks.
Chairman of the community, Taiwo Benson, made the call while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt.
This came one week after a fire incident that destroyed houses and property worth millions of Naira near a tank farm in Abonema Wharf Port Harcourt.
While describing the last inferno as unfortunate, Benson appealed to NUPENG and other regulators to do more in monitoring the tanker drivers, especially at the point of loading.
He expressed dismay that the tanker drivers load petroleum products above their limits and sold the extra to black marketers.
The community chairman further said these black marketers store the products in their houses, describing reports that Abonema Wharf was notorious for illegal refining as false.
“The Abonema Wharf road is where those tankers load from a tank farm. And you know we are Rivers people, apart from being Rivers people, we are humans.
“Sometimes we see how those tankers line up there. Some of them when they load, instead of going direct to their stations. I don’t know how they loaded the extra ones for them.
“They will be scooping to sell. When they sell, if you go you see people who buy this fuel from them have small shops where they put some of those things inside.
“So, that is the cause of the fire. It is not Abonema Wharf,” Benson stated.
The PUNCH recalled that the Mayor of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, Alwell Ihunda, shortly after visiting the scene of the fire incident had said shanties in the area would be demolished.
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