The legal officer of the School, Fortunate Fio, has said they will resort to a legal action if the management of the fuel station fails to provide documents to prove their claims that their operation wasapproved by all stakeholders including the school’s authorities.

[contextly_sidebar id=”l6ljrv2ZhDFTOLDBDAGXdTYOUqoru4K8″]Speaking on Eyewitness News, he said the school is determined to protect its interest and the lives of thousands of students who feel threatened by the operations of the fuel station right behind the campus, especially after last Saturday’s gas explosion incident at Atomic Junction near Madina in Accra.

The school several months ago raised questions over the siting of the fuel station, while the facility was still under construction.

They argued that the fuel station, in the event of an explosion will claim the lives of many students and staff that have hitherto taught and studied in a safe environment.

Mr. Fio said, “our lawyers requested for the minutes of the report that they claim they have submitted to the state agencies [Environmental Protection Agency and National Petroleum Authority], and the signatories that they claim attended that meeting. Up to today, they have not provided us with this report or the signatories. How can they conclude that we [UPSA] are satisfied and closure has been brought to the matter.”

“We have the right to proceed to court to vindicate our right once we are making demands for the documents and they are not coming. The students are entitled to do whatever they are doing, and they have the right to do that….We as an institution will not sit down to see any death on campus before any action will be taken by the state.”

In the meantime, he noted that, the students will petition the president, Nana Akufo-Addo over the matter, and invite him to intervene to prevent what appears to be a looming crisis.

“The students will petition His Excellency [President Akufo-Addo] to ensure that the right things are done,” Mr. Fio said.

UPSA students demonstrate against ‘dangerous’ fuel station 

Scores of students of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), on Monday staged a demonstration on campus against the siting of a fuel station close to the school.

The students, who have been protesting the siting of the fuel station since January 2017, claiming that it poses a threat to their lives following the gas explosion that occurred at Atomic Junction last Saturday, killing 7 and injuring 132 others.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post UPSA considers court action over siting of SEL fuel station appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Students of the school have been protesting the location of the station close to the school, over fears of a possible explosion.

[contextly_sidebar id=”m0ioqwlIHtCqoUR6ll0ujX2SBX4xm6Rm”]The Managing Director of SEL, Johnny Blagogee, told Citi News’ Caleb Kudah in an earlier interview that the former Vice Chancellor had permitted the construction of the facility, however, in a sharp contrast, the former Vice Chancellor said Mr. Blagogee rather disrespected the concerns of the school.

“One time my registrar told me that the man came to his office and he told the man [Mr. Blagogee] he disagrees with him and that he shouldn’t do it [build the fuel service station behind the school]. So if the registrar who is the main administrator told you that, and you still went on to do the construction, I think that this is just a matter of disrespect to the University community.”

Prof. Alabi further expressed doubt he had any direct interaction with Mr. Blagogee, during which he sanctioned the construction.

Following recent cases of fuel station explosions in the country that has claimed many lives, students of UPSA have intensified their campaign to stop the operations of the SEL fuel station behind their school.

The students have blamed the La-Nkwantanan-Madina Municipal Assembly (LANMA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) for shirking their responsibility and putting their lives in danger, by permitting the operations of the fuel station.

A source at LANMA said the construction only commenced after the VC approved it, although the assembly was hesitant in granting the permit.

Prof. Joshua Alabi however discredited the claim, urging the relevant agencies to engage the school on the matter.

“I don’t think my registry wrote that it is okay. We don’t have the right to okay the construction of the fuel station. What we did was to write to the agencies to go and check for us. We could be wrong in stopping the man. We are looking at it from the safety angle; but we are not the agency responsible for that. So we wrote to them [EPA], but when we write to them, they need to come and discuss whatever they find with us. But we have not had any serious response from them,” Prof. Alabi said.

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By: Caleb Kudah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post I didn’t permit fuel station at UPSA – Prof. Alabi appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

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