Fighting the cocktail of fires in Rivers
Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi
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The sequence of fire outbreak in Rivers State is becoming worrisome to the people of the state. CHUKWUDI AKASIKE chronicles the chain of fire incidents in the Garden City and notes that a lot needs to be done to tackle the ugly trend
THERE is no doubt that the chain of fire
incidents in Rivers State has become a cause for concern. While many
are wondering what went wrong, others are giving spiritual
interpretation to them. The sequence of fire outbreak in the state began
on Thursday, July 12, 2012 with the petrol tanker fire that killed over
200 persons.
The incident shocked every Nigerian, who
continued to ask why the natives of Okogbe community and its neighbours
decided to siphon fuel from a fallen tanker. Though not a few were sad
over the unfortunate incident, analysts had likened the action of the
victims to that of a group of people who deliberately took a plunge into
a crocodile-infested river .
While the people of Okogbe were still
recovering more corpses in the bush, another fire happened at Elechi
Beach on Monday, July 16, 2012; precisely five days after the Okogbe
tragedy. Despite the fact that no life was lost, about 11 houses were
razed. The fire outbreak at Elechi Beach could be said to be
self-inflicted. Trouble started when operatives of the Joint Military
Task Force codenamed ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ discovered 420 drums of
illegally refined fuel within the area.
The taskforce set the building where the
products were hidden ablaze. The flame spread to nearby shanties around
Elechi Beach, prompting residents to run for dear lives. Some of the
residents, who could salvage their personal belongings, did so before
the raging fire got to their buildings. The Army Public Relations of 2
Brigade in Port Harcourt, Captain Sunday Samuel, had dismissed the
allegation that the task force set fire on houses in Elechi Beach during
its operation. He explained that the JTF only set ablaze the 420 drums
of illegally refined petroleum products it confiscated. Samuel said, “It
was very close to the waterside. So, there was no way the fire would
have engulfed the entire community.”
In her remark, the Rivers State
Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari,
attributed the inferno to the activities of illegal bunkerers whose
facilities were discovered and destroyed by soldiers.
Semenitari pointed out that security
operatives destroyed the products after security reports revealed that
some hoodlums, who migrated from Abonema Waterfront, had relocated to
Elechi Beach. “The soldiers were there to clear the area of miscreants
and criminals that have continued to terrorise innocent people,” she
added.
Not a few had thought that the fire at
Elechi would be the last for 2012. But they were wrong as the flurry of
fire incidents moved to Abuloma Jetty in Port Harcourt where a vessel
exploded and killed at least 30 persons. The incident happened on
Friday, July 20, 2012. The vessel was said to be undergoing an emergency
maintenance. Welders were working when the ship went up in flames. One
of the three persons that survived the explosion later died in a
hospital.
The cocktail of fires replicated its
total tendency to destroy at three different areas in the state capital
on the same day. The Tide Newspapers and Rhythm FM
were also gutted by an early morning fire. Fortunately, no life was lost
in the two separate incidents that destroyed property worth millions of
naira. The media industry in the state has been worried over the fire
incidents at The Tide and Rhythm FM.
On that day, which could possible pass
as a ‘frightening Friday’ JTF operatives had set five on tankers loaded
with suspected illegally refined oil on fire at Atali along
Rumuokwurusi-Igwuruta Road. The JTF troop arrested the five tankers
within the area in the night and directed that they should be driven to a
bush where they were set ablaze. It was gathered that the JTF ignored
entreaties from residents that buildings around the area could be
affected by the fire. Captain Samuel defended the action of the task
force, saying the tankers were involved in illegal bunkering and that
“the mandate of the JTF was to destroy products seized from illegal
bunkerers.”
Samuel said that six persons were
arrested in the process of seizing the tankers and added that they would
soon be handed over to appropriate authorities for further
investigation and prosecution.
All these fire incidents took place in
the state within nine days. Fire fighters, who were expected to rise to
the occasion, had always appeared at the scenes late; sometimes, two or
three hours after. On the fire at The Tide, the Editor, Mr.
Soye Jamabo, said fire fighters tried to put out the fire to no avail
because their water hose was not long enough to get to the second floor
of the building.
Similarly, the State Chairman of the
Nigerian Union of Journalists, Mr. Okpaka Dokubo, explained that the
fire service officials were helpless as their equipment failed them at a
critical time when their service was most needed. “The fire fighters
came, but their equipment were ineffective. Their water hose could not
go beyond the first floor of the building. If not for the intervention
of fire fighters from Total oil firm, the entire building would have
been razed by fire,” Dokubo stated.
It will, however, be recalled that on
March 17, 2012, about seven persons were killed while 25 houses were
razed when a tanker fully loaded with premium motor spirit (petrol)
rammed into a residential building in Igwuruta, Ikwerre Local Government
Area of the state. Goods worth millions of naira were destroyed while
many residents were displaced. The accident occurred around 3am when the
tanker driver lost control, rammed into buildings before bursting into
flames. The blend of fire incidents had raised a lot of dust as
indigenes of the state wondered if the occurrences were as a result of
sabotage. But the Rivers State Police Command ruled out any form of
sabotage.
The State Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Mr. Joshak Habila, told The PUNCH in a telephone interview, that the fire incidents at Abuloma Jetty, Rhythm FM and The Tide were
accidental. Habila explained that while the incident at Abuloma Jetty
was caused by the welding of a part of the vessel, the fire that gutted
the Engineering Department of the radio station and newspaper
organisation could be as a result of faulty wires. He pointed out that
nobody would have gone to set the office of the General Manager of The Tide on fire, insisting that the fire outbreak at the media organisations was accidental.
“It (fire incident) was not as a result of sabotage. Who would have entered the office of the General Manager of the The Tide
to set the place on fire? I don’t think any person would have been
involved in the fire incident at the radio station. On the explosion of
the vessel at Abuloma Jetty, we learnt that it was caused by the welders
who were carrying out maintenance job on the vessel. But the situation
has been brought under control,” Habila said.
Similarly, a Director in the Ministry of
Information, Mr. Blessing Wikina, ruled out sabotage in the fire
incidents that shook Port Harcourt. Wikina described the unpleasant
incidents at the two media organisations as accidents caused by
electrical faults, insisting that nobody would have set two media houses
on fire within a day.
“It is not possible for any person to
set two media houses on fire. The fire incidents could not have been as a
result of sabotage. The only sad thing is that they will affect the
business of the organisations involved,” he said. Wikina, however, urged
residents and organisations to check their electrical appliances and
ensure that the right cables were used in their buildings.
Worried by the development, women in the
state organised a special prayer session at the Government House in
Port Harcourt. The women prayed for God’s intervention in averting
further disasters in the state. The wife of the State Governor, Dame
Amaechi, who initiated the programme, charged wives of local government
chairmen to replicate such prayers in their areas.
Amaechi stated that the recent tanker
fire disaster, which claimed many lives and explosions in some parts of
the state, caused tension in the city, maintaining that it was time to
seek God’s intervention. “The recent challenge in the state, which has
claimed so many lives, requires urgent attention and we as women must
seek the face of God,” the governor’s wife stressed.
She urged wives of top government
functionaries scheduled to travel for vacation with their children to
cancel it and embark on an enlightenment campaign on the dangers of
inflammable material and explosives. Amaechi pointed out that women were
the worst hit during crisis and appealed to them to take their destiny
in their hands in the interest of the state.
“Most of the dead at Okogbe were women
and children who due to poverty had gone to scoop fuel for survival. It
is time we have a rethink,” she added. She called on women, especially
the elite and wives of top government functionaries to show love and
assist the poor rather than indulging in frivolities. “It is sad that
some of you do not consider the needy on your list of priorities.
Please, this is a wake-up call; let’s begin to show love no matter how
little,” she said.
On the solution to fire outbreaks, the
State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Emeka Worgu, said government
was planning to establish many fire stations in strategic points in the
state. Worgu said the decision was one of the steps taken to combat fire
outbreaks anywhere in the state.
According to him, such measure will ensure that fire fighters get to scenes of fire incidents in time.
Nevertheless, it is the wish of the
people of the state that these fire incidents should come to an end.
Again, they want government to be more proactive by ensuring that the
necessary facilities were put in place to tackle issues related to fire
outbreak.
