Residents of Aerodrome Estate, Samonda, Ibadan, have called on Governor ‘Seyi Makinde to save their lives from eminent danger, over the siting of a gas plant within their residential estate.
The residents lamented that despite a letter from the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, suspending construction work on the site until an amicable solution was found, work had resumed again on the site at a frenetic pace, adding that the rate at which the construction was going is suspicious.
Addressing journalists in Ibadan during a protest by the residents, the Vice Chairman, Aerodrome Estate Home Owners and Residents, Professor Mojisola Atalabi, urged Governor Makinde to wade into the matter before getting out of hands, adding that as law abiding citizens, they have right to their lives.
She said: “We have our ears to the ground. The owner of the plant is boasting that we cannot do anything because they have money, connections and political backup.
“We wrote to the government, we protested, we went to DPR, we went to Ministry of Lands, Ministry of Environment, and even Ministry of Energy.
“We were told that something will be done, but the next thing we saw was the resumption of work at the site, and they are working both day and night.”
Also, a resident in the estate, Akinkole Babalola, said that government should not have granted approval for siting the gas plant, saying that risks and hazards associated with the gas plant are enormous and devastating.
According to him, one of the guidelines of DPR in siting a gas plant is that the location must passed a suitability test which, he said, the one being built failed.
“We wrote letters and backed it up with documents to convinced the government to know the illegality of the gas plant.
“And government has promised to do something about it, but till now nothing has been done on it.
“We have sent a letter to Ministry of Physical Planning and also the DPR to know what has transpired and the outcome of their findings, and also to know the condition upon resumption of work in the site,” he said.
He, however, appealed to the state government to consider safety of lives of the residents above other things, saying that the gas plant is very dangerous in a residential area.
