The Concerned Stakeholders of the National Theatre have called for the investigation of Friday, December 29, 2023, gas explosion at the National Theatre in Lagos.
According to the group, the explosion that destroyed valuables was due to the illegal trans-loading of refined petroleum products and LPG within the National Theatre premises.
Reiterating his call for a thorough and unbiased investigation into the explosion and the illegal trans-loading operations on the CBAAC land, the spokesman of the group, Olalekan Ayinde, urged President Bola Tinubu and the Minister for Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy, Hajia Hannatu Musawa, to set up a probe panel to investigate the circumstances that led to the explosion.
Ayinde blamed the Prof. Sunday Ododo-led National Theatre management for the explosion while also criticising the general manager for leasing out the land for illegal petroleum and LPG trans-loading without carrying out a risk assessment and obtaining the approval of the board and management of the parastatal.
He said, “The explosion is avoidable. It was a result of the recklessness and corruption of the management. They leased out the illegal portion of land without following due process and without considering the risk involved in the business.
Prof. Sunday Ododo didn’t obtain board and management approval before granting the land to the lessee.
If not for the negligence of the management, the explosion was avoidable because there was a report on the illegal activities of the lessee before the general manager, which he ignored.
I am aware that there was an existing report of activities within the parastatal dated September 25, 2023, which cautioned the management on the hazards involved in leasing the land out for illegal trans-loading operations. The report was issued by one engineer, Usman Habib, who had closely observed the activities of the lessee.
The report documented that there were ongoing construction works taking place at the Entrance ‘C’ gate, the lawns, and the piling works opposite the Entrance ‘B’ gate. In the report, the author claimed to have observed that the illegal and dangerous activities were still taking place at the former CBAAC land near the artists’ village, where he had earlier notified the authorities as far back as the second quarter of 2022 about the trans-loading of refined petroleum products from the trucks into jerry cans and drums and also LPG from the trucks into cooking cylinders of different sizes. This has continued despite the hazards involved. But nothing came out of the report, which ought to have put a stop to the illegal trans-loading activities.
We, the concerned stakeholders, are therefore bothered about the safety of workers within the National Theatre and, more importantly, those who work directly at the site of the explosion. We are therefore calling on the Federal Government and the supervising ministry to fish out those who are behind the illegal trans-loading operation and also probe deep into the finances and activities of the managers of the parastatal. This is necessary to prevent the recurrence of such a dangerous explosion.”
A security operative manning the Entrance C gate of the parastatal who craved anonymity disclosed that there are loads of shadowy activities going on within the parastatal.
He described the trans loading of petroleum and LPG by the lessee as illegal, while alleging that their operations are aided by the management of the parastatatal.
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