The ENL Fire Saga, Corporate Accountability And Official Deceit

BY GBOGBOWA GBOWA

Government officials are quick to attack anyone who speaks about Corporate Nigeria as a nation of deceit, inordinate narrow interest and immorality, a nation of pretenders, abusers and violators of rules and laws; a nation of fake and compromised value system where the led and the leaders are common felons; entrenched by an unbreakable grip of ungodly embrace, conspiracy and fellowship.

About three weeks ago, ENL Terminal, one of Nigeria’s seaport cargo handlers, believed to be owned by a family strongly rooted within the nation’s political family space, caught the media attention.

Newspapers including industry online media on Saturday, June 21, 2025, reported a fire incident involving one of the cargo ships at ENL berth, said to be discharging goods when the fire incident occurred.

Two national dailies with strong standing and reputation also carried the report, which was evidently collaborated by both federal and state government owned agencies, among which is the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA) and the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (LSFRS).

According to the reports, a cargo ship, CHANG Min, said to be laden with cargoes including CNG trucks, wooden products, tyres and other inflammable items had its cargo discharging section burst into fire outbreak during operation.

Tribune newspaper report, for instance reads: “In a statement released on Saturday by the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA), the fire was however put out through a combined effort from fire officials from the LASEMA Response Team-Onipanu, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Fire Unit.

According to the LASEMA statement which was signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Authority, Dr. Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, the fire was observed at the point of unloading and the cause is yet to be ascertained at the time of filling in this report.

The LASEMA statement reads: “Following distress alerts at 1755hrs, the Lagos State Emergency Management (LASEMA), activated the State’s Emergency Response Plans from the Cobra Base in Onipanu.

“Upon arrival at the scene, a cargo ship CHANG MIN laden with cargo which included CNG trucks, wooden products, tyres and other highly combustible products was observed to have caught fire within section two of the cargo hold.

“Preliminary investigations conducted by Emergency responders at the scene revealed that the fire was observed at the point of unloading and the cause is yet to be ascertained at time of report.

“No life was lost and no injuries were sustained to anyone as all seafarers on board have been accounted for.

“The Cobra response team alongside all other responders at the scene undertook the following actions: Debrief from the Crew on board to give more information to Emergency Response Teams as to the instruction that the compartment be totally shut to eliminate oxygen supply, while initial dampening down was being conducted.

“A fire response plan was agreed upon by Emergency Responders on a method to combat the inferno in the safest possible way to eliminate secondary incidents also ensure the safety of all fire fighters: reopening of the cargo hold to enable fire teams engage the inferno; Location of fire and the ship floor plan.”

Yet, another newspaper wrote: “The LASEMA statement also added that the fire has been totally extinguished and recovery operation concluded.”

By the evening of the second day, a number of newspapers including industry online mediums reported a counter as supplied by the management of ENL, claiming that there was no fire outbreak.

ENL did not stop there, it lampooned all the agencies which names appeared in the earlier reports, excoriated the newspaper houses and reporters that carried the report, and also pointedly flayed the port landlord, NPA, for spreading rumour and inaccurate report.

It has been three weeks since the unfortunate saga, neither LASEMA, LSFRS or indeed, NPA, have responded to disclaim ENL’s rebuttal that accused them individually and collectively, for lying.

Nigerians have therefore been left in the lurch and stranded if you like; forever denied the right of knowing what actually transpired. And that is how corporate Nigeria rolls, no sense of duty, no accountability and no transparency. Here, everything is shrouded in secrecy for political expedience.

At a time Nigeria is campaigning and going around the world to solicit support and vote to win the Council Seat of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO); incompetence, official deceits and compromises rules the maritime industry.

It would appear that the Nigerians populace and foreign investors alike are denied useful information that supports the right of citizens to be abreast of developments through news dissemination, which to a large extent also help in critical decision making by other stakeholders.

The political class cares less about the need of the ordinary masses for accurate and adequate information dissemination, including other external publics who require industry data disclosure to formulate their investment plans.

Perhaps, it is owing to this crass propensity for narrow interest that the Port Concession Agreement has remained secret since 2006. Our economy has since surrendered to a carrot and stick politics and by extension, political philandering.

That this is also the cause of the inability of government to review the port concession that expired over four years ago and re-award the terminals to deserving operators can only be imagined.

Interestingly, reports in the past indicate that ENL may be part of the cabal blocking the effort of the federal government to carry out a sweeping change of the ownership of port concessions believed to have performed below expectation.

The high heel lobby to block action of the review of the existing port concession by the federal government is believed to have also inadvertently contributed to the underperformance of the port industry; with its negative effect on the national growth.

In the last fifteen years, the maritime and port economy have occupied the bottom rung of the measuring ladder with respect to the nation’s productivity and revenue performance indexes.

For as long as politics supersedes our economic permutations for real growth, so long will Nigeria remain a beggar country, forever dependent on import and foreign aids.

A nation that lacks the capacity to do what is right and finds reasons to continually pander to narrow interests only, can never rise. Just like our once upon a time beautiful concept of an emerging vibrant solid mineral economy that was driven by the steel and ore industry under the auspices of the Ajaokuta and Aladja- Warri steel plants, the current effort to promote a marine and blue economy will most likely, given our attitude, also fizzle away as a failed dream.

Already, the signs are becoming manifest, plus the fact that we are dissipating energy racing after unproductive ends; courtesy of the national leadership and the self same, serving political class.