Fire guts ship at Tin Can Island

The Burning Ship

 A fire explosion on board a ship servicing MRS Oil and Gas Tank Farm at the Tin-Can Island Port, Apapa, Lagos occurred on Wednesday,  disrupting major operations at the depot.

Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, spokesman, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told journalists that the explosion occurred while the barge was discharging petroleum products into the company’s tank farm.

NEMA also confirmed that four persons sustained injuries as a result of the incident, adding that the generator house of the company was also affected.

Newsmen were barred from entering the premises, but witnesses said the fire lasted about an hour. Mr Marco Storori, the Executive Director, Shipping, Trading and Operations of MRS, said that three buildings were affected by the explosion.

Mrs Osibodu Bevlema, Assistant Director (Public Affairs), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), also confirmed the incident in a telephone interview with NAN. She said that the fire was brought under control with the assistance of fire service personnel from other tank farm operators like Oando and Folayiwo, within the Ibru jetty.

“I cannot tell you specifically the extent of damage or what led to the fire outbreak but I can confirm that we are still investigating the incident. “I want to assure you that the incident has been put under control and it will not affect the supply of products in any form,’’ Bevlema said.

The management of MRS Oil and Gas said that a statement would be issued on the incident after investigation.

Igbo Presidency Impossible with five states

cross section of SouthEast governors led by Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State

 The theoretical case for the emergence of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction has been eloquently established beyond any reasonable doubt. The economic case is persuasive; the legal case, which is a derivate of the constitutional principle of federal character, is incontrovertible; the political case is self-evident and the moral case is utterly compelling.

But the establishment of the case at the intellectual and theoretical plane is quite clearly insufficient to meet the rigorous demands of our ambition. Genuine ambition is contingent upon action.

Ndigbo have, for decades, expressed the desire and the thirst for the prime political office in this country. We have clearly shown, by oral advocacy, why we have that desire and thirst. Now we must take the forward steps in the direction of the oasis from which we hope to quench our thirst for justice and our desire for equity in Nigeria.

The next step is the crusade that will take our case to the other three cardinal points of our nation – West, South and North. The legwork and mobilisation that must underpin the theoretical case has been commenced by Njiko Igbo. Igbos should crave, plead and obtain – rather than presume, expect or demand – the support and solidarity of all Nigerians.

The component tribal groups that make up the Nigerian republic have unique experiences arising from their history of participation in the union; but none is quite as unique as the Igbo experience, made so by being the only tribe to have pledged allegiance to two different nations within the same territorial borders – first to Nigeria and then to the Republic of Biafra and then back to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In between this shifting citizenship have occurred pogrom/genocide, starvation and conquest.

This history and experience place us in a complex category in our union. And no Igbo citizen should be in any doubt that our quest for the presidency has remained a mirage precisely because of this unique experiential history – and nothing to do with the popular myth about disunity amongst us. Accordingly, our challenge in attaining the prime office in this land remains herculean and requires efforts of corresponding proportions to prevail.

No authentic Igbo citizen should fold his or her arms and wait to be recruited into, or consulted about, this dream. Instead, our recruitment efforts and consultations should be directed at non-Igbo Nigerians. The focus of our pleas and arguments should be firmly directed at those who remain unpersuaded or unsympathetic to the justice of our cause.

This crusade is an Igbo one, the staff and the rod is Njiko Igbo. But Njiko is not claiming an exclusive right to arms. Other warriors are welcome and, in fact, encouraged to rise to the occasion. Our job is to motivate, consult, mobilise and persuade both Igbos and non-Igbos alike. Additionally, Njiko Igbo is a platform for debate and exploration of deeper ideas about the place of Ndigbo in the Nigerian federation.

What I have said elsewhere bears repetition on these pages: “As an Igbo man, I harbour a deep sense of sadness at the manner in which we, as a people, have been consigned to the peripheral reaches of the Nigerian power structure for more than four decades. Where is the justice or equity or the idea of equal opportunities in a pluralistic society such as ours?

“When shall these be accorded Ndigbo in order that we can have the assurance that, yes, we are not Osu (outcasts) in a nation family where we have played a brave and distinguished role to make its history more solid and more enduring? As a Nigerian, observing our unending national degradation, I feel a sense of outrage that the Igbo option appears never to be in contemplation as a legitimate instrumentality through which our national challenges could be finally confronted in a manner that could genuinely yield transformation.”

Of course, it’s self evident that we cannot achieve our goal without first putting our house in order. We must show a unity of purpose which must be demonstrated through the pursuit of this one and irreducible ambition.
It will entail the sacrifice of the personal on the altar of the collective – which must be demonstrated through allowing ourselves to be dedicated to a purpose greater than our individual selfish commitments.