Leadership (Abuja)
Christiana Esebonu
27 August 2008
analysis
"Please appeal to government on our behalf to ensure that kerosene is supplied to every filling station in Abuja and to also ensure that the subsidised price for which the NNPC sells their product is maintained in all the stations. I am tired of spending nights at fuel stations or even risking my life to come here by 3.am when I am supposed to be resting in my bed."
This was an appeal by Mama Gift, an Abuja resident, put across to government through our reporter who visited some filling stations in the FCT, even as more kerosene seekers expressed their agonies.
The hardship Nigerians experience everyday in order to buy kerosene, an essential commodity, indeed speaks volumes about the inept character of the Nigerian Government.
Come to think of it, Nigeria is naturally endowed with crude oil, from which kerosene is produced. Yet to get this "God-given" product, one must undergo a horrid experience.
Kerosene, the most used product for domestic cooking, has been priced out of reach of the masses. Most persons who cannot afford getting the product had resorted to using sawdust, firewood and charcoal not minding the after effects.
The issue of kerosene, as far as filling stations are concerned, has become a nightmare to the Nigerian populace as it unfolds its unfavourable gift in two ways. Firstly, due to its scarcity those who survive through it have been deprived of this scarce commodity, which was originally meant to be pooled out and made available to them. Secondly, the adulterated variant of the product has caused a lot of pains and sorrow in many homes, maiming, killing and possibly turning victims into living shadows of their original selves.
But do those in power view the peoples welfare as a priority?
Lately, the Africa Petroleum (AP) in collaboration with the Access Bank Plc, launched a project tittled "Kerosene For All", which was commissioned by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. This project was aimed at alleviating the scarcity, as well as the high cost of the product, but today, NNPC/AP filling stations designed to achieve these set goals have derailed from the intended plan and expectation.
Today subsidy in Nigeria should rather be seen as a subsidy for specific persons, because these stations have nothing to offer other than agonising pains, providing room for exploiting the masses. The kerosene project that was aimed at meeting the needs of the general society has become a business venture for NNPC/AP station attendants, thereby defeating the purpose of the project.
At the NNPC filling station located at Area 10, our reporter noticed, with shock, a large number of persons comprising disabled persons, on wheelchairs, pregnant women, the aged, teenagers, uniformed men and young girls queuing for the product.
LEADERSHIP however, gathered that the queue was in different segments ranging from the civil servant line, force line disabled people line, black marketers line and the general public line.
Narrating his ordeal, Mr. Henry Eyiaro stated that the sufferings encountered in getting the product was as a result of lack of will by the government to solve social problems. He said if the government had the would to better the lives of the masses, they will actually make a way because the financial capacity of the Nigerian nation could take care of our needs.
In his words:, "You won't believe that I have been waiting for the past three hours, and there's no sign that anybody will be attended to, except the black marketers and touts that give them money. I can boldly say it anywhere that what is happening here is a syndicate or better still, an organised network of crime between the station attendants, blackmarketers and even the so-called task force."
He called on the government to be focused not for themselves, but for posterity and for the future, having it in mind that there's always "a place after service." Eyiaro called for a new agenda to enable government know how they can move the nation forward.
For Mr. Iyimoga, the problem lies in selling the product, after it has been off-loaded. He revealed that the problem lies with the people coordinating the sales, because if they adhere strictly to the instruction they are given, the mode of distribution will be perfect.
"The arrangement was that the task force would pick 10 jericans each from the lines orderly arranged (ie from the various segments) but the reverse had been the case" he exclaimed.
He said the only way the situation would be arrested was for government to open more of such stations at strategic places like Nyanya, Kubwa, among other areas.
Miss Blessing, a restaurant operator and a resident of Life Camp, said as a struggling girl who doesn't want to compromise with the world she has been sleeping at a nearby uncompleted building (which she pointed at) just to ensure that "I buy this product to continue my business. But these forcemen will not let my dream come true." "she shouted, shaking his head."
According to Blessing, "Military men no longer report at their beat as they have turned NNPC Filling Station and all AP station to their offices and homes. They have suddenly become kerosene dealers, as some no longer see the need to go to work. I know too well that they cannot resist the taste of money, but they should stop coming here to flog married/pregnant women as well as people's children who refuse to comply with their demands."
She called on all DPOs to warn their officers not to make filling stations their second offices and homes. She stressed the need for patrol team to be released to arrest such greedy officers and if possible lock them up or deploy them to filling stations for rest of their lives.
As far as NNPC, AP and the issue of kerosene is concerned, there will always be a queue. This was the confession of a taxi driver, Malam Abubakar Bello. Honestly, the agony and sufferings of kerosene buyers have exceeded what we go through during fuel scarcity. The taxi driver told our reporter that he actually went there to refill his tank, but from his observations, discovered that it was only those who knew the names of the station attendants that were getting the product.
"Just call "Gilory, Muhammed or Emeka and kerosene would be pumped into your rubber", he added.
Malam Abubakar expressed pity for the policemen who beat pregnant women and even go as far as breaking peoples jerricans without mercy, forgetting that they are carrying curses upon their heads.
Mr. John Oba, who also narrated his experience at AP filling station situated at Maitama, had this to say; on August 1, 2008, the AP station at Maitama, opposite the British High Commission, received over ten thousand litres of kerosene as attested to by the assistant manager.
After throwing away some 50 litres from the long queue because, according to them, only people with 20 litres would be attended to going by the rules guiding the project, at about 6:30am, one of the supervisors came with six litres and later announced to the waiting crowd to come back the next day for the products , after waiting endlessly.
For Chinwe Okeke, "These people always use delay tactics with one excuse or the other to deceive us. It is either the nozzle is not pumping, or the engine is too hot and needs to be allowed to get cooled, only for them to use the slightest chance to "Siphon the product to black marketers".
Ifeanyi Nwaokike Emeka, a student who resides at Karmo, could not withhold his tears while making some revelations to our reporter. According to him "I lost my dad when I was in primary school, but survived the perils of this life through my mothers trade which is kerosene retailing, but has resigned due to her poor health condition leaving the trade to us for survival."
"As a child with vision and positive expectations, I decided not to be idle or become a liability to the society and so decided to continue in the inherited trade which has been of immense help to us. But here I am in the civil service line even with my late father's I.D card, with no hope of getting the product." These heartless people, instead of concentrating on the line, are only ready to collect bribe from anxious or impatient civil servants to deliver to them. "What then happens to the poor? Please help me ask the government and write it in your newspaper that the "Rich also cry, if not now, it will certainly be some day, yes! some day!" he repeated.Me, I be Niger Deltan oh, and I believe say you know wetin I mean, which kind rubbish be this? Na them dey sell, and na them dey buy, e good so? No tell me say e good. This was question put to our reporter by an aggrieved kerosene seeker who gave his name as "Area.",
Be the first to Write a Comment!
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
