A 20 foot container suspected to contain toxic waste has been abandoned at Berger Suya bus stop, along the Cocoanut – Mile2 end (close to the pedestrian bridge) of the Oshodi/Apapa expressway.
The specialised container with number TLLU 2813171is loaded with already rusting drums stacked six drums wide and five drums high. When Vanguard visited the site of the container yesterday, the truck head has been removed leaving the body laden with the consignment.
Vanguard findings revealed that the truck, whose plate number has also been removed, may have been parked there for long time.
Vanguard discovered that about 15 drums have been removed, sparking fears that the consignment may have been pilfered.
An Executive member of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, who draw Vanguard’s attention to the container said he saw chemical-like substance dropping from the consignment and he remembered the famous Koko incident.
According to the source, some people around there to help open the door which was ajar at the time.
After Vanguard’s visit to the site, the Public Relations Officer of Tin-can Island Command, Uche Ejesieme and his counterpart at Apapa Area1 Command, Abubakar Usman, of the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, were contacted to ascertain which port the consignment was cleared from.
Ejesieme told Vanguard that it was not possible to ascertain the port from where the consignment was cleared by just the container number, noting that the ship which brought the container has to be identified.
However, Usman asked that Vanguard send him the container number to help him get details but he did not pick his calls afterwards.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, NESREA, Amaka Ejiofor, said she would consult and get back to Vanguard but however did not as at the time of going to press.
However, an official of NESREA who spoke with Vanguard said for every suspected consignment of concern to the Agency at the port; is usually brought to their attention by officials of the NCS.
The official wondered why they did not get any notification from Customs.
Effort to reach the spokesperson of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Christy Obiazikwuo, was unsuccessful as she could not be reached on phone, neither did she respond to a text message sent to her.
Source:- Vanguard
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