Rivers Residents Begin Repair Of Houses, Shops After Gas Blast

Residents of Aleto community in Eleme local government area of  Rivers State have begun the repair of their houses and business centres following a gas explosion in the community on Thursday.

No fewer than 20 persons were injured while several properties were destroyed in the incident along a pipeline belonging to the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC).

Speaking with LEADERSHIP Sunday yesterday, the secretary of Aleto Youth Congress (AYC), Isaac Nwafor, said the incident had affected the community in several ways.

He said: “This incident has really affected us in many ways. It was this morning that vehicles were able to cross this road because we insisted on removing the barricade.

“They have shut down the pipeline and it is no longer smelling and that is why we allowed vehicles to be passing through this road. This incident has caused the shut down of businesses in the community.

“Businesses have not been able to operate in the community in the past two days. We are calling on government and all relevant authorities to come to our aid.

“The company involved should do something about this. The people of this community experience this almost every month. Just a couple of weeks ago, a similar incident occurred about 200 metres from here. It took them weeks to come here.

“These pipelines are ages and we are calling on then to come and do what they are supposed to do.”