Officers and men of the Enugu State Fire Service have put out the gas flare that erupted during a borehole drilling at the Federal Housing Estate in Ugwogo Nike, Enugu State.
Consequently, the state government restated its determination to convert the state’s dormant gas and other mineral resources to productive assets.
It however warned against drilling boreholes without the authorisation of the State Ministry of Environment and Climate Change as well as other relevant government agencies.
This was made known by the commissioner for environment and climate change, Prof. Sam Ugwu during an inspection tour of the gas flare incident at Nike yesterday.
The gas flare occurred at about 10:30 pm on Saturday and lasted till the early hours of yesterday, resulting in the rig operators and some residents scampering for safety.
Speaking during the on-site inspection, Ugwu, who was also accompanied by the special adviser to the governor on energy and mineral resources, Mr Kingsley Nnaji, thanked the firemen led by the chief fire officer, engr. Okwudiri Ohaa, for their prompt intervention.
“As was rightly pointed out, we had this experience around the Caritas University last year and this is the second incident.
“The government is going to investigate the incident further because already, we have environmental laws. They were supposed to have applied to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The Ministry would come here to do an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and then there would be a letter of commencement, which would be issued by the Ministry. So, I advise anybody going into the ground to do the proper thing to avoid this kind of experience we now have here. But for the prompt intervention of the State Fire Service, this could have caused the loss of lives and houses around this place.
“But these gas eruptions have also further confirmed Governor Peter Mbah’s statement that we have both solid and liquid mineral resources in abundance in Enugu State, which his administration is very much interested in harnessing for the good of the people of Enugu and the nation in general.
“So, Enugu cannot be known as Coal City alone because we have gas, limestone, kaolin, gypsum, and other mineral resources in abundance. That is why the present government is very much interested in bringing local and foreign investors to come and invest in these mineral deposits”, Ugwu stated.
Narrating the incident, the Chief Fire Officer, Engr. Ohaa, said the experience garnered by the Fire Service during such an accidental gas eruption around Caritas University, Nike, helped them in applying the right measure to stop the flare.
He warned residents of the area to respect the cordon by the servicemen and also avoid coming close to the site with fire of any kind. He, however, assured that his men would be on the ground until the flow stopped.