Arrested and abandoned ships, which are rotting away at the defence jetty at CMS, pose an environmental as well as health risk to the Nigerians who conduct their businesses at that vicinity.
Taiwo Ayomide, 41, sells food at CMS bus stop. She is among a lively community of commuters and pedestrians who throng the CMS axis of Lagos every weekday, as a transit point to Victoria Island and environs. Strategically located like this, Ayomide’s open-air restaurant is a hub for hungry commuters, executives, artisans, passengers and drivers as well. Investigations did not reveal that she prepares her sumptuous meals with water from the Lagoon, but she indeed recycles the plates she uses for serving her customers by washing them with water from the lagoon behind.
Just a few meters away from her open-air restaurant is the Ministry of Defence Jetty, MDJ, and the National Inland Waterways Authority’s, NIWA, offices. There, five ships and a barge berth almost harmlessly. However, a closer look revealed that nearly all of the ships, apart from the barge, are mountains of rusting iron. They cast a shadow of doubt on the beautification programme of the Lagos state government just on the other side of the road. Another closer look reveals that one of the ships has gone under, with only a tip of it sticking out like a cenotaph out of its watery grave. Nobody knows if the thick coat of oil that cover the lagoon, and the acrid smell that surround the place is from the remains of the sunken ship. Some, who did not want their names in print, disagree. They said that the constant filling and re-filling of the boats that ferry passengers back and forth from the CMS axis to the Apapa was responsible.
Reliable sources told the magazine that that sunken ship poses a health threat. The source claims that some materials like asbestos used in shipbuilding are toxic and may contain radioactive substances if someone inhales them or are submerged. Matters become a little critical, because that sunken ship will remain sunken for a long time. ‘Wreck removal is sometimes much more delicate and expensive venture than the cost of repairing a ship. That is why the owner of that ship may not even bother to want to remove that ship’, the source said.
The ships still afloat at the MDJ pose yet another environmental and health threat because in a few years, they would become economically unviable and may have to be ‘broken’ into smaller components and recycled. To break a ship, many owners usually rely on small-time welders and citizens earger to make a buck, but who are unaware of the health risks involved in breaking a ship without wearing protective gear. Recent reports indicate that ship breaking in ports in India and Bangladesh without the requisite health precautions caused an outbreak of leukemia and mental disorders.
The abandoned practice in the military was that arrested ships whose owners fail to show up after a length of time were ‘scuttled’. That means that they open the protective seals underneath the ship and allow it sink to its grave. ‘We abandoned ship scuttling because of the dangers that that poses. ‘Blowing up the ship is not an option either’, our source said.
Ships usually have a lifespan of about 25 years and an old one may cost as much as $5million. They may still be useful after that time if the owners can afford to service and equip them with the modern accessories that technology throws up daily. A top naval officer at the Nigerian Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island, Lagos, revealed that owners of the ships at the MDJ may not show up to take responsibility for their ships. ‘Most Nigerians who go into the shipping business lack an understanding of international shipping regulations. Most just buy ships and do not realize that a ship is not a car that you park anywhere you like. A ship is like an aircraft: whether you fly it or not, you must pay the landing charges, parking fees and the various statutory charges. It is the same thing with a ship’, the officer said. Continuing, he said that when these ship owners are unable to pay these costs, they prefer to abandon and allow them rot. To park a ship at the naval dockyard for repairs costs N165, 000 everyday. Repairs alone take a paltry sum of N20 to N60million, depending on the kind of repairs the ship needs.
However, the ships at the MDJ are not orphans or abandoned babies. Sources said that the barge among the ships belongs to a prominent politician in the South West zone of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who retired from the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA. The Nigerian Navy Beecroft Naval Command, Apapa, in charge of the Western Naval Command allegedly arrested the ships since 2005. The ships may have human names like MT Destiny, MT Efundayo, MT Mahdi, and MT Cap Breton, but their seemingly quiet repose at the MDJ, at CMS will eventually wreck disaster for the human beings who conduct businesses around the Apapa port.
