WHEN life is meaningless, people throw it
away without a thought. Thousands did so
in Jesse, Delta State in 1998, and the
hundreds who died in Okogbe, Rivers State
last Thursday, added to the long list of
Nigerians who died scooping fuel.
They knew the danger in the venture. They
took their chance and like hundreds before
them, they died. More will die until
fundamental issues about survival in
Nigeria are addressed. Condemnation of
their behaviour is not a solution.
Why would people risk their lives after the
well-known stories of fuel fires roasting 300
to death in Warri in 2000 and 125 in Ovim,
Abia State in 2003? In between there were
other fuel fires that killed Nigerians.
In 2006 alone, more than 500 people died
in two separate incidents in Lagos (Snake
Island and Abule-Egba). They were
scooping fuel from burst pipes. As if to
give the incidents national spread, at least
93 were killed in Kaduna, in March 2007,
when an upturned fuel tanker they were
looting burst into flames.
The incidents were avoidable, but the
situations that produced them have been
ignored for long. People are too poor to
value their lives. If fuel fire does not kill
them, poverty will. They are the living
dead, they have no hope; they have
minimal expectations from life.
Surviving for the next hour, even at the
cost of their lives, is more important than
the consequences of the efforts at survival.
Poverty, when experienced at the crippling
levels more than 100 million exist, can
produce devastating results. People at this
stage think with their stomach.
Unfortunately, governments, with billions
of Naira at their disposal, do not realise that
more than 100 million Nigerians live on less
than N150 daily; in fact, they would be
grateful if they had N150 daily. Policy
makers are oblivious of the grim reality of
life at this level.
Of course, the East-West Road, where the
accident occurred has been a stagnated
project for decades. On a better road, the
tanker driver could have had space to
manoeuvre.
The state of our emergency services
reflects in the rescue efforts. It is
unsurprising that they are unable to handle
emergencies considering that facilities for
regular life – water electricity, access roads,
health services – are inadequate.
Emergency services work within these
constraints, no matter our expectations.
Our people know the consequences of
scooping fuel. Governments have spent
decades preaching about these dangers.
Without addressing the poverty that leads
to this extent of desperation, the
preachment is futile.
The tragedies are damning portraits of how
poverty continues to devalue Nigerian lives.
Nigerians are embracing death to escape.source vanguard
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