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| FIRE |
•That was another case of private greed causing public alarm and pain
Many residents of Ijeododo area of Lagos must have been looking forward to a hitch-free end of the year celebrations until last week Monday when, once again, suspected pipeline vandals shattered their hope. They had to flee the village in the night, following a pipeline explosion and its resultant inferno, a thing they also experienced only last year.
The good news is that no life was reported lost to the incident, but as usual, the explosion underscored the fact that little has changed in terms of our response to such calamities and even government’s approach to protecting the pipelines, in spite of their economic importance to the nation.
The incident has naturally heightened apprehension that it would worsen fuel scarcity, especially in the south-western part of the country, which at the best of times has been epileptic since the beginning of the year. Even the people of Ijeododo have started having nightmares of what life in the sleepy village would be like in the absence of electricity supply, which surely would be affected by the explosion. Electricity, they claim, is the only thing that makes life meaningful to them because there are no other amenities. They said it took about six months before electricity supply was restored to the area when they experienced a similar explosion last year, and that was after parting with some money. They expect a longer period of darkness in view of the intensity of the inferno this time, which they describe as more severe than the previous one.
With pipeline explosion becoming a recurring decimal, the impression one gets is that of a helpless government. Although it is yet to be officially confirmed that the explosion was caused by vandals, the fact that there were many empty jerry cans at the site points in that direction; that is their trademark. Obviously, the vandals must have been operating at that place for some time before the bubble burst. So, the question is: what is the security arrangement like to protect the facility?
Given the economic importance of the pipelines, the government should pay more attention to securing them. The pipeline in question transports about 11 million litres of petrol from the Atlas Cove. Yet, it was not easily accessible from the Ijeododo end when the fire occurred. Nigeria must be one of the countries that people do not lose sleep over wastage, a word that has lost value in its political lexicon, as there is so much wastage even in governments across board.
Nigerians appear to have lost hope that corruption and stealing can ever become history in their country because the quantum of petroleum products stolen daily across the country is enough to make people mad with outrage in more civilised countries. The government complains about the billions lost to pipeline vandals annually but it does not seem serious to stem the tide; there is no holistic approach to tackle the problem.
The issue is definitely beyond the ken of militants that the government has given more than N5billion
contracts to protect the pipelines. Apart from this, the arrangement is a vote of no confidence on the navy and other security agencies that should normally protect such public facilities. The luck we had this time was that lives were not lost; unlike the Jesse fire incident of 1998 when more than a thousand people perished, and others that had also claimed many lives. If lives had been lost in Ijeododo, we would have seen all sorts of graveside orations from those who should have prevented the incident in the first place.
We believe that the government has the resources to tackle pipeline vandalism; what it requires is the presence of mind and will to do it holistically. It should not be seen to be surrendering to vandals, otherwise, we would always return to square one in terms of fuel supply nationwide.
Source: The Nation
Many residents of Ijeododo area of Lagos must have been looking forward to a hitch-free end of the year celebrations until last week Monday when, once again, suspected pipeline vandals shattered their hope. They had to flee the village in the night, following a pipeline explosion and its resultant inferno, a thing they also experienced only last year.
The good news is that no life was reported lost to the incident, but as usual, the explosion underscored the fact that little has changed in terms of our response to such calamities and even government’s approach to protecting the pipelines, in spite of their economic importance to the nation.
The incident has naturally heightened apprehension that it would worsen fuel scarcity, especially in the south-western part of the country, which at the best of times has been epileptic since the beginning of the year. Even the people of Ijeododo have started having nightmares of what life in the sleepy village would be like in the absence of electricity supply, which surely would be affected by the explosion. Electricity, they claim, is the only thing that makes life meaningful to them because there are no other amenities. They said it took about six months before electricity supply was restored to the area when they experienced a similar explosion last year, and that was after parting with some money. They expect a longer period of darkness in view of the intensity of the inferno this time, which they describe as more severe than the previous one.
With pipeline explosion becoming a recurring decimal, the impression one gets is that of a helpless government. Although it is yet to be officially confirmed that the explosion was caused by vandals, the fact that there were many empty jerry cans at the site points in that direction; that is their trademark. Obviously, the vandals must have been operating at that place for some time before the bubble burst. So, the question is: what is the security arrangement like to protect the facility?
Given the economic importance of the pipelines, the government should pay more attention to securing them. The pipeline in question transports about 11 million litres of petrol from the Atlas Cove. Yet, it was not easily accessible from the Ijeododo end when the fire occurred. Nigeria must be one of the countries that people do not lose sleep over wastage, a word that has lost value in its political lexicon, as there is so much wastage even in governments across board.
Nigerians appear to have lost hope that corruption and stealing can ever become history in their country because the quantum of petroleum products stolen daily across the country is enough to make people mad with outrage in more civilised countries. The government complains about the billions lost to pipeline vandals annually but it does not seem serious to stem the tide; there is no holistic approach to tackle the problem.
The issue is definitely beyond the ken of militants that the government has given more than N5billion
contracts to protect the pipelines. Apart from this, the arrangement is a vote of no confidence on the navy and other security agencies that should normally protect such public facilities. The luck we had this time was that lives were not lost; unlike the Jesse fire incident of 1998 when more than a thousand people perished, and others that had also claimed many lives. If lives had been lost in Ijeododo, we would have seen all sorts of graveside orations from those who should have prevented the incident in the first place.
We believe that the government has the resources to tackle pipeline vandalism; what it requires is the presence of mind and will to do it holistically. It should not be seen to be surrendering to vandals, otherwise, we would always return to square one in terms of fuel supply nationwide.
Source: The Nation
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