Commissioned on February 19, 2010 by Senate President David Mark, it goes by the appellation Diamond Estate, with the motto, Where passion grows. Though it is said that ‘diamonds are forever,’ residents of this estate in Isheri-Olofin, Lagos State, cannot imagine suffering the effects of oil spill forever, reports SOLAADE AYO-ADERELE

Residents of Diamond Estate in Isheri-Olofin along the Iyana Iba-Igando road on the outskirts of Lagos have so much to worry about. Those in the Phase 2 area of the estate are particularly worried, what with the emergency mode in which they live, considering the unusual quantity of fuel deposit that surrounds the barely two-year-old housing scheme.

The unwieldy quantity of fuel in the estate and its surrounding is such that in February, the authorities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation evacuated over 450,000 litres of petrol from an oil leak site — an equivalent of over 13 standard truck loads of petrol.

If the problem is just outside the walled estate, perhaps residents would be less worried; but then, the majority of residents of Phase 2 — about 75 per cent of them, according to the Chief Security Officer of the estate, Major Yusuf Abdulkadir (retd.) — have their wells full of refined, ready-to-use premium motor spirit, petrol.

Among such residents are Mr. and Mrs. Olutayo, whose well is full of petrol; as well as Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, whose groundwater smells like acid.

Narrating the ordeal the family has passed through since January 2009 when they moved in sequel to the purchase of their N6m three-bedroom flat, Mrs. Tolani Olutayo said, “When we first moved in, our water was okay and we were able to drink water from our well and use the same for domestic purposes. However, there came a time when we started noticing an unusual smell each time we turned on the tap for use. Eventually, refined fuel started gushing out of our tap. It was unbelievable and scary.

“Before then, I also noticed that my 19-month old son, David, had started to develop lesions on the skin, not knowing that he was reacting to the chemicals that had mixed with our groundwater. It was the doctor that attended to him who advised against using the water to bathe him or wash his clothes. Only then did the lesions clear away.”

At the residence of the Olutayos, the air is filled with the smell of petrol. Indeed, one might as well mistake the place for a pump station, what with the suffocating smell of petrol that pervades the atmosphere.

To prove a point, an executive of the estate threw a plastic bucket suspended on a rope into the well, and drew out refined petrol, to the horror of everyone watching. Considering the fact that occupants of this particular building are not only exposed to dangers of fire outbreak and other health issues, they also pose danger to all the houses around, what with the fact that the houses are built very close to one another.

The fuel in Olutayos’ well is such that, according to the residents, tanker drivers claiming to work for the NNPC come at regular intervals to load fuel. “On one occasion, they loaded and went away with 14 tankers of unadulterated fuel from our well,” Tolani said. Her claim was corroborated by other residents.

At the Spencers’, another family resident in the two-year old estate, the water gushing out of their taps is malodorous. Immediately the tap is opened, bad smell simply accompanies the water that comes out.

According to Mrs. Modupe Spencer, a health worker, “We cannot use the water for anything beyond doing the laundry and washing the toilets. Even then, that’s after we must have treated it with chemicals to make it usable to a certain extent.” As things stand now, residents of the affected parts of the estate patronise water tankers for domestic purposes, while they also buy bottled water for drinking.

Taking a walk through the estate is revealing. The physical layout is aesthetic, with virtually all the houses spotting well-kept gardens with assorted flowers, while each building features a fenced compound that can take five cars conveniently. The roads are tarred, and, if the kinds of vehicles that drive in and out of the estate are anything to go by, then the residents can be said to be middle class.

Indeed, its middle class ranking may not be in doubt, considering that an honourable member of the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Badagry Constituency 2, Mr. Hodewu Suru Avoseh, lives there.

Despite Avoseh’s presence, however, the estate has fared extremely bad in the circumstances in which it has found itself. At both phases one and two areas, smell of petrol pervades the open air. Indeed, the experience is akin to walking in acid rain, as the face soaks in the moisture, with the attendant irritation on the facial skin. Also, after minutes of walking through these heavily pollutted parts of the estate, the taste in the mouth feels as if one has just tasted petrol, making one to spit at regular intervals.

At the other side of the long fence built round the 600-house estate are long stretches of open channels filled with clear petrol, with hose pipes and other oil pumping gadgets, including generators, tankers, drums of varying shapes and sizes, among others, positioned nearby. Also on the open field are an ambulance and a fire truck, all of which are under the watch of security men.

The open space is an expanse of land, with the soil fully saturated with petrol. Also, there’s clear evidence of excavation.

Sometime in February, the authorities of the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company had commenced spill containment and environmental remediation measures, in an effort to mop up the huge volume of spilled petrol in the area.

The company, which is the marketing arm of the NNPC, said the measures were part of its ongoing detailed investigations into the petrol seepage at the Diamond Estate and its environs.

Spokesman of the PPMC, Mr. Raphael Ugwu, said his company had taken the challenge of remediation as a precautionary measure to protect the environment, while it has not accepted culpability for the spill which has so far polluted the underground water and even caused fire incidents on three separate occasions, one of which happened on December 16, 2010, which forced residents to flee their homes for safety. The fire disaster lasted three days before it was finally contained.

Apart from physically checking the integrity of its pipelines to rule out any leakages, Ugwu said, the company has also started the process of mopping up the spilled petrol from the wetland.

He explained, “After remotely controlled surveillance intelligence tools failed to indicate any leakages on the line, the company deployed the costly, rigorous and most reliable physical inspection of the pipeline to identify and plug possible leakages that might be responsible for the pollution.”

He said that the physical inspection had continued without any observed integrity failure along the three kilometres excavated so far, thereby raising suspicions that the seepage might be from other sources.

He said the area was notorious for incidents of reckless pipeline sabotage and theft of petroleum products, arguing that the seepage might be from spills of the past that might have accumulated underground.

All these efforts and explanations have not assuaged the anger of the residents, who feel that their lives and health are on the line as a result of the environmental pollution that their estate has been subjected to since the oil spill was first noticed. Consequently, they are asking for N20bn compensation from the Federal Government.

According to the estate president, Mr. Samson Adebayo, though the NNPC management had appealed to the residents to be calm, while also promising to provide an industrial water treatment plant for them, the oil company has yet to make good those promises. They also said that the fire safety control measure and health care facility that had been promised were yet to materialise.

They appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to save them from the inherent dangers they are daily exposed to as residents of an estate that sits on oil-saturated land.

In terms of dangers to residents’ health, an oncologist and Head, Radiology Department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, Dr. Remi Ajekigbe, has this to say: “Petroleum tends to be most dangerous when its fumes are inhaled; but long-term exposure to the skin also carries risks. If one regularly comes into skin contact with petroleum products, the best method for reducing exposure is to wear gloves. Over time, handling of petroleum products may result in tissue death of the skin. One may develop a dry rash, or have cracked skin.

“Petroleum products on the hands may also be transferred to the eyes. Eye exposure to petroleum may result in burns of the eyes, which can permanently affect sight.”

He also explained that chemical compounds that originally come from crude oil, technically called total petroleum hydrocarbons, TPH compounds, can affect the central nervous system. One compound, he said, could cause headaches and dizziness at high levels in the air.

“Another compound can cause a nerve disorder called peripheral neuropathy, consisting of numbness in the feet and legs. Other TPH compounds can cause effects on the blood, immune system, lungs, skin, and eyes.

“Also, their effects on the lungs, central nervous system, liver, and kidney are not in doubt; while some TPH compounds have also been shown to affect reproduction and the developing foetus.”

Worse still, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has determined that some TPH compounds like benzene, benzoic, pyrene and gasoline are probably and possibly carcinogenic (cancer-producing) to humans.

With these dire predictions, is it not advisable for Diamond Estate residents to relocate? To which the residents replied, “We simply don’t have the means to do that. Not with the at least N6m each person paid for his flat,” they said.

^ ^ ^ Typical mentality.



A health and safety risk, a fire outbreak God forbid would be disastrous.

Bleh. Poor folk