Concerned residents of Tirwun and ATBU Kari Estate Staff Quarters in Bauchi metropolis are appealing to the concerned authorities to, as a matter of urgency, halt the construction of a gas plant in their locality considering the dangers associated with such.
The residents said that the location of the proposed gas plant opposite the Tirwun Jummuat/Eid mosque portends danger to them.
The residents while addressing journalists on Sunday at the NUJ Press Center expressed fear that in the unfortunate event of an explosion, which is imminent, the location not only puts the lives of thousands of Tirwun Jummuat/Eid mosque worshipers at risk but also the lives of hundreds of residents and students from the Nursery/Primary and Tsangaya Schools in jeopardy.
Spokesperson of the residents, Muhammad Gurama supported Muhammad Ali Chiroma, Mubarak Hamza and Abdulmalik Saleh Yalwa further noted that the sharing of the gas plant in the same premises with the petrol filling station presents double jeopardy where one will ignite and fuel the other.
They also said that the approval obtained for situating the gas plant was temporarily issued without recourse to the Bauchi State Fire Service Directorate, saying that the promoters of the gas plant have failed to provide an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to the host community to ascertain the effects and mitigating measures.
According to them, the intended access road to the LPG Plant is just for residential purposes, constructed to serve ATBU quarters and not adequate for trucks/tankers to manoeuvre in and out of the gas plant factory site without causing havoc.
“We are aware that BASEPA and Bauchi State Urban Development Board have both issued a stop-work order on the gas plant but they refused to comply since May 2021 while another stop-work order had been recently issued ordered by His Excellency, Executive Governor of Bauchi State since (July 2021),” the residents claimed.
The residents pointed out that gas explosions in Lafia, Nasarawa State, on Monday, September 10, 2018, where at least 35 people were killed with hundreds injured and 17 vehicles including two fuel tankers burnt to ashes. They also cited other past explosions across the country.
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