On Saturday, January 25, tears flowed freely as families mourned the death of 18 persons in a petrol tanker accident along the Ugwuonyema section of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway. The driver of the petrol tanker reportedly had a brake failure, then lost control and crashed into the vehicles in front of him. Petrol poured out and caught fire. The surrounding vehicles and their passengers were incinerated instantly. Eighteen persons were burnt to ashes, many more were severely burnt. Those who could be rescued were taken to the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (Park Lane) and the National Orthopaedic Hospital for treatment. Both hospitals were overwhelmed. One of the victims was on holiday from his overseas base. 

A week earlier, January 18, a fuel tanker carrying about 60, 000 litres of fuel crashed at the Dikko junction near Suleja in Niger State. Residents within the vicinity, including children, immediately rushed to the scene with all kinds of containers: buckets, kegs, bottles, some even carried their generators with them to scoop free fuel. In the hustle and bustle that ensued, there was an explosion! Over 80 lives were lost, 69 persons were critically injured, about 20 nearby shops were burnt down and destroyed. On January 22, 2025, in Jalingo, Taraba state, less than a week after the tragedy in Suleja another petrol tanker overturned, spilling its contents onto the road, and despite the obvious risks, the people again rushed out to collect fuel. They had to be chased away by Civil Defence Officers. In October 2024, a similar incident in Majiya, Jigawa resulted in the death of about 200 people and injured over 120 others. Again, it was reported in that incident that the tanker which was travelling between Kano and Yobe State overturned while trying to avoid a collision with another truck. Its contents spilled and people quickly looked for containers to scoop free fuel. And an explosion occurred. In September 2024, there was yet another case of tanker explosion in Niger State when a petrol tanker ran into a herd of cattle and collided with a truck.  Over 50 persons died. Thus, petrol tanker explosions have become so frequent in Nigeria, North to South, East to West, so much that Nigerians are beginning to accept this as a fact of life. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to convey the tragic nature of the problem stated that in the year 2020 alone, there were about 1, 531 such accidents, claiming 535 lives. In the last three months, more than 250 persons have died. 

Oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1956 by the Royal Shell Company, with exploration beginning in earnest in 1958, and over the years Nigeria became the sixth largest producer of crude oil in the world, with petrodollar accounting for 80% of the country’s total export revenue and foreign exchange earnings. The country also has the finest, in-demand grade of crude: the low sulfur, sweet, Brent crude. Ordinarily, this should be a blessing to the country, but the biggest problem that Nigeria faces is the curse of oil, that is “resource curse”. Either in a crude form or processed form, oil has been the cause of Nigeria’s woes. The mismanagement of this resource, poor leadership, and corruption within the oil and gas industry have since combined to lead to rebellion in the Niger Delta, and a scramble for oil wealth. Nigeria has over 5,000 kilometres of pipelines, but these pipelines are routinely vandalized, resulting in spills and environmental degradation, and tragedy, oil thieves continue to compromise the weak pipelines trying to get their share of the national cake, the oil companies have not done enough to maintain infrastructure in the face of the menace of restiveness in the Niger Delta. Only about 1% of the population benefits from oil revenue. Fuel is transported on the roads, and most of the roads in Nigeria are bad. When fuel tankers overturn, members of the Petrol Tanker Drivers Association of Nigeria are quick to blame the bad state of the roads, but that does tell the full story. The true story is so bad that each time there is an omission in the oil and gas sector, hundreds or thousands die as they did in Jesse, in Delta State on October 18, 1998 pipeline explosion; Atlas Creek Island, Lagos in 2006; Ijegun, 2008; Ejigbo, Lagos in 2018; and gas explosion in Abule Ado area of Amuwo Odofin in Lagos in 2020. 

Whether it is pipeline, or gas or fuel explosion, the story line has remained similar and repetitive, and the people who lose their lives and properties are the victims. The responses from the relevant authorities are predictable: prominent Nigerians including Governors and the Presidency would immediately issue statements describing the incident as “worrisome, heartbreaking, unfortunate, regrettable and tragic,” with the usual condolences duly expressed. The Emergency Management Agency in the affected states, the Fire Service and the FRSC would rush to the press to demonstrate that their officials and the “ogas at the top” are on top of the matter. Nobody is actually on top of anything. The Federal Government would announce that it has set up a committee to investigate the matter, and advise the government on pipeline safety and petroleum transport safety protocols.  Religious leaders will offer prayers for the souls of the dead, and the community would bury the remains in mass graves. Opposition political leaders would visit the elders of the community and make some very open donations, the pre-planned publicity of which would almost gain greater prominence in the media. As it was in 1998, so it is today. After the rituals of statements and investigations, the results of which may never be released, the country moves on. The road lies in wait. When the next “worrisome, heartbreaking, unfortunate, regrettable and tragic accident” occurs in another part of the country, we go through the same ritual again. It looks like a repetitive cycle of failure. It is right to commiserate with the bereaved families in Niger and Enugu states, but it will, sad to say, happen again. It is certainly tragic that in many of the cases, entire families are wiped out, for no reason other than that they are in a country that suffers from the curse of oil. How about a Nigerian in diaspora who comes home on holiday only to end up dying on the road because a fuel tanker crashes and explodes?   

But why do people rush to scoop fuel each time a tanker discharges its contents on the road? Why do people choose to willingly commit suicide knowing that fuel is combustible and death is the only certainty when an explosion occurs? Since May 2023, the pump price of fuel has increased by about 400%, the cost of living as a result of inflation has also increased. Those who own cars can hardly fill their tanks anymore. Generator owners need fuel but the cost is also high, and there is no regular electricity supply in a country of over 200 million people. When there is news of free petrol gouging out of a fallen tanker, or a burst pipeline, the people rush for gold, and they often die in the process. The people live in a blessed country but they are so adrift, so lost, they would rather embrace death with faith and hope. The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has been directed by the President to sensitize the people, and educate them. In other words, Nigerians must be advised not to commit suicide. The current leadership of NOA says it is ready to take on the task. But will the people listen? It is the yawning disconnect between the people and their government that will in part cause the next fuel tanker explosion. 

Fuel tanker drivers are quick to blame the state of the roads. Frequent accidents on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway have been traced to the poor state of the roads, and indeed, this is a major problem nationwide. If the roads are full of potholes and bumps, the drivers knowing that they are transporting dangerous content ought to drive more carefully. No, they don’t. They are forever struggling for space with other motorists. They drive at high speed, and nobody enforces speed limits on highways. The Petrol Tankers Owners Association of Nigeria, National Association of Transport Operators, Container Truck Owners Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) claim that they would enforce safety protocols. But they do not. And they will not. The drivers leave their loading depots, for the most part, fully stoned, or energized by psychotropic drugs. They are also made to travel long distances. Many of them doze off on the steering wheels. Petrol tanker owners want their cargo delivered at the destination. They don’t care much about the accidents that occur on the roads. Many of the tankers are not properly maintained. The brakes often fail. Both the tanker drivers and the tanker owners must be held liable for the havoc that they cause. Until a tanker driver and the tanker owner are tried and convicted, made to pay damages to the government and the families of victims, or banned outrightly from ever running a tanker business, we may never see any improvement. Going forward any truck bearing unlatched containers, which fall over, endangering lives and properties, must be seized, along with the container and its entire contents. The driver and the owner of same must be made to face the full wrath of the law. Setting up committees and issuing statements will never help. 

Where are the government agencies on the roads, the security personnel: the police, road safety, fire service who are supposed to ensure safety on the roads? Even when they are on the roads, they are also busy trying to survive. There are not enough fire safety units in the country to start with, certainly not on the highways, making a mockery of every attempt at emergency response. The policemen collect bribes. Road safety officials are overstretched. There are too many bad vehicles on Nigeria’s bad roads, and most of the vehicles violating rules and regulations are owned by Nigeria’s big men: an untouchable class of non-citizens with an elephantine sense of entitlement. We should be tired of the law enforcement agencies playing to the gallery. They need to become professional. 

And in any case, why should we transport petrol and other dangerous cargo by road and often during daytime at busy hours, either within the city or the highways. In the past some state governments have had to restrict the movement of tanker drivers to specific times of the day or to designated routes. In 2018, the Lagos state government directed articulated vehicles to obtain road worthiness certificates within 30 days, Anambra state did so too in 2019, directing that tankers and containers could only travel within the state between 1 am to 4 am. Following the accident in Suleja, Niger State, on January 18, the state Governor Mohammed Umar Bago has since banned heavy-duty trucks from plying the Dikko Bridge where the accident occurred. State governments lack the capacity to enforce their own orders. The tankers and containers are owned by very powerful persons and organizations in Nigeria: the same people who donate money and sponsor candidates during elections. Over the years, corporate Nigeria has perfected the art of putting the professional political class in its pocket. The owners of the murderous tankers and containers are the Godfathers of the men in political offices. This combination of capital and social connections stands in the way of any effective policy making and implementation in Nigeria, with the people at the mercy of the conspiracy of the business and political elite. 

What is the best practice in other parts of the world, with regard to the transportation of fuel and other cargo? The fact that toxic and inflammable materials are still being transported so carelessly on Nigerian roads is yet another sign of the country’s underdevelopment. Nigeria is a member of OPEC like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Angola, Gabon, Algeria, and the UAE. You may never hear that a petrol tanker on the roads crashed in those countries and people rushed to scoop fuel and got murdered by the state. It is a question of how much value we place on human lives around here. 

And when these accidents occur, why is it that the hospitals are not of any significant use? The usual excuse is that we have good doctors and specialists, but most of the hospitals are poorly equipped. It is either there is no electricity or there is no diesel to power the generator. There was a students’ protest recently at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, once a pride of the nation, because there was no electricity. The Ibadan Disco had to cut off power supply to the hospital for months due to unpaid electricity bills! How can such a hospital respond to any medical emergency? The story is the same in other parts of the country where hospitals reject accident and emergency cases due to the lack of basic facilities, including oxygen tanks. And yet many of these hospitals were supposedly built and equipped by the government at double or triple the actual cost. When people get burnt to ashes in Nigeria, in a fuel tanker accident for example, there is virtually no means of identifying them either through biometrics and dental records. The ashes are collected and buried in unmarked and unknown graves. Nigeria is a vast country of undocumented non-citizens, no reliable data, no ready-to-access medical records, and even those that may be documented can only pray that Nigeria does not happen to them. The fact that it is possible for anyone to wake up in the morning and disappear without trace and permanently is what is truly tragic about our Nigerian experience.