Bob Majirioghene Etemiku writes that the activities of some tank farms in Niger Delta are endangering lives
In November 2020, there were several reports that irate youths of Ute Okpu, Ika North east local government area of Delta State, took to the streets to protest the rising deaths of youths in the area. According to these reports, the youths got angry after four of them died. The protesters reportedly burnt a market, but were unable to get to their monarch’s palace. A team of soldiers and policemen stopped them. The deaths were said to be unexplainable, and the gist around town was that the gods or deities of the community affected were angry at misdemeanor of certain elders, and so had taken the lives of the youth as propitiation. But investigations have revealed that the youths were not killed by the gods. Rather, they had died from yellow fever and allied ailments from deadly fumes arising from the unregulated activities of tank farms in the Niger Delta. Five inhabitants of Arakpa community in Oghara in Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State tell their experiences living near tank farms. Mrs Edith, mother of two children – a boy and a girl – is a petty trader. She lives just as few metres away from the tank farms run by an oil company in Arakpa community in Oghareki in Delta State. She has lived there for three years. When we met her, she was clearing her nostrils now and again. Mrs Edith claims that ‘odour’ from the storage of fuel and gas in the tank farms is what makes her sneeze and her children to wheeze. She said she always feels dizzy and drowsy. According to Mrs Edith, the ‘odour’ from the tank farms occurs daily and is strong. When the fumes blow around, their eyes itch. She said that doctors who had treated her for sneezing and cough have advised her to leave that vicinity. Before moving into the vicinity three years ago, she hardly sneezed or wheezed and her children were not always sickly.