By Ifeanyi     Okolie
LAGOS — The Lagos State Government, yesterday, reopened the five oil tank farms shut in the Kirikiri area of the state last Friday, by officials of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA, for violating environmental laws.

The tank farms — Bovas Petroleum Limited, Swift Oil Limited, Fatgbems Petroleum Limited, Index Oil and Gas and Techno Oil Limited — were reopened after they signed  a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the state government.

Chief Executive Officer, LASEPA, Mr  Adebola Shabi, who spoke with Vanguard on the reopening of the tank farms, said: “Operators of those oil depots have signed an MoU with the state government, in which it was agreed that a consultant will conduct a post-impact assessment of the area to ascertain the extent of environmental pollutions that may have been impacted.”

Shabi said the oil companies agreed to construct water drainages to ease flooding around a residential estate, which  is not up to 200 metres from the oil depots in the area.

He said: “They agreed to construct water hydrant in front of their depots and purchase fire engines to fight any outbreak of fire in the area.  We are taking these measures because the oil tank farms are very close to residential buildings.”