Nigeria Content Online

Last week, five
children from a family in Imo State lost their lives when their home
went up in flames. This happened after a keg of kerosene bought by the
mother of the house exploded. The woman herself survived, albeit with
severe burns all over her body.

Tragic as this
incident was, the affected family does not hold the dubious distinction
of one with the highest casualty from kerosene-related explosions. Last
month, Hope Adeleke, a policeman serving in Delta State, lost all
members of his family – six children and their mother. The woman and
her children got burnt while she was in the process of refilling a
lantern.

For some months
now, explosions linked to adulterated kerosene have been spreading
death and misery across several states in Nigeria. The epicentre of
this tragedy, however, appears to be Niger Delta states of Edo, Delta
and Rivers. Parts of the southeast have also been affected, as
unscrupulous traders mix chemicals with either diesel or kerosene to
increase their profits from selling the products. Within the past two
months, some 45 cases of kerosene explosions have taken place in Rivers
State, accounting for 15 deaths.

It is no small
irony that the section of the country most affected by this tragedy is
the oil producing part. But that is possibly due to the fact that there
is an abundance of products that could be used to adulterate petroleum
products in the area, as well as the presence of hundreds of illegal
mini refineries. The defence minister recently said the government was
aware of the existence of 300 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta.
The military joint task force has, indeed, been destroying these.

But that has not
done much to prevent families such as Adeleke’s from falling victim of
this macabre trade. It is also glaring that other government
enforcement agencies have gone to sleep over the issue. Instead of
rolling out robust measures to identify and penalise those behind the
criminal activities, agencies such as the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) have
done little other than offer platitudes to Nigerians.

A well-publicised
statement from the NNPC advised Nigerians not to patronise fake
purveyors of adulterated fuel and only buy the products from trusted
sources. Which would have really worked well had the corporation taken
time to explain how to identify these fake purveyors.

An official of the
DPR, who recently took a bunch of journalists to the site of some
illegal refineries operating in Mbiama, Ahoada Local Government of
Rivers State, was also kind enough to advise the reporters that her
organisation has no legal power to prosecute the youth behind the
operation, especially as it was unable to provide the criminals with
any alternative means of livelihood should their petroleum business be
closed down. Now, that certainly takes the cake in official ineptitude.

At other times,
officials of the DPR have blamed fuel tanker drivers who are members of
the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers or private
depot operators. But the import of this blame game is that there is no
government agency actually working to safeguard Nigerians from killer
fuel.

And it isn’t as if this is a recent occurrence.

The Fire Disaster
Prevention and Safety Awareness Association of Nigeria, a
non-governmental organisation that has been working to secure some
relief for victims of kerosene explosions, said a study it conducted in
2002 showed that over 300 lives were lost during an earlier outbreak of
kerosene-related explosions in Edo State and other parts of the
South-South. Many of the victims of the earlier explosion are still
living with the agony and pains of the tragedy. Perhaps our nation has
shrugged off their predicament because most of them are poor and weak.
But, surely, these are the group of people most in need of government
support?

Although elected officials are currently caught up in a frenzy to
convince us to vote for them in April, they should not overlook the
fact that they still have a nation to run. Inability to ensure the
provision of safe kerosene to Nigerians may not seem like an issue
worth focusing on during campaigns. But how many votes can the
politicians hope to get if their supporters loose the all-too-crucial
fingers to fire from kerosene explosions?