The Gov’t Should Be Blamed For Petrol Fire Disasters -By Azuka Onwuka

Last week, there were three fuel tanker accidents in Anambra State, one in Ogun State and another in Lagos State. There might have been some others in some other states that did not draw media attention.

Among the tanker accidents, the worst in magnitude was the one that occurred on Wednesday in Onitsha, around the Upper Iweka area and spread to Ochanja Market. At least seven people died, and dozens of residential houses and hundreds of shops with goods and cash, all estimated to run into billions, were burnt.

 If you asked the Nigeria Police Force, the Federal Road Safety Corps and the Vehicle Inspection Officers who is to blame for these accidents, they would likely blame the drivers. They would not mention themselves as part of the problem. Aside from the government that is to be blamed for the terrible state of roads that contributes immensely to the number of accidents on the road, the group that should take the highest amount of blame for these accidents caused by trucks, articulated vehicles and big buses is the trio of the police, FRSC and VIO.

 People who are drunk, underage and on hard drugs and with no driving licence will drive faulty trucks and commercial buses recklessly across the country, killing people and burning property, but the FRSC, VIO and police officials will overlook them and get themselves busy harassing good-looking private cars which have lower risk of causing multiple deaths.

 Last year, an overloaded petrol tanker that was converted from an oil rig could not climb the hill at Otedola Bridge in Lagos. It rolled back, fell and burst into flame, causing havoc. Nine people and 54 vehicles were burnt. Some years ago, a petrol tanker ran into people at Onitsha and killed many people. In different parts of the country, it is the same story. Commercial buses move around without trafficators, headlamps, brake lights, wipers, spare tyres, speedometers, side mirrors, windscreens etc. Yet, no agency stops them or gets them off the road, so as not to cause the death of others. The best they do is to collect bribes from them and allow them to go on killing the masses.

Nigeria is an abnormal country where the inexplicable and bizarre happens. Last year, an investigative journalist with The Cable purposely drove a car without any document from Abuja to Lagos and back to Abuja. In the 1,500-kilometre round trip, he met 86 checkpoints mounted by the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Federal Road Service Corps and Vehicle Inspection Officers. Different amounts of bribes were demanded from him and collected. Once a bribe was collected from him, he was allowed to continue on his journey with a vehicle that could have been a stolen vehicle.

Articulated vehicles and commercial buses are kings of the Nigerian road. They are the least maintained of all vehicles, yet they are the least detained on the road. Most of them emit dark smoke that creates visibility problems and health challenges for other road users. But they drive past hundreds of checkpoints seamlessly. Their brakes are always failing because nobody checks them properly for roadworthiness. Who checks the drivers of these vehicles to confirm that they are not under the influence of alcohol or hard drugs? Who checks if their body is weak for the road trips? A tired driver can easily sleep off and plunge into a river or gorge or into a crowd.

 The next point is the issue of insurance. Whenever these heavy-duty vehicles cause huge accidents and deaths and destruction, it is unclear if the insurance company of the vehicle pays any compensation to the victims. If the vehicle is not adequately insured, this is not possible. That also comes back to the agencies that mount roadblocks but fail to check these vehicles. Do they check these vehicles to ensure that they are adequately insured? Given the potential threat to citizens, every truck and big bus that plies the road should have a comprehensive insurance policy that will compel the insurer to pay compensation for anybody who is injured or killed or any property destroyed through an accident caused by the truck or bus. Vehicles which transport highly inflammable materials like cooking gas and petrol should also have special insurance covers that should be enforced because of the high risk they pose to the public.

 The state of the roads is also a critical issue. The federal roads across Nigeria are in a terrible state. The roads are not just littered with potholes but have lost their asphalt cover in many sections sometimes spanning many kilometres. Heavy vehicles plying these roads constantly get trapped, especially during the rainy season when the earth is soft. Other more unfortunate ones tip over and fall, spilling their contents and causing loss to the owner of the goods and the owner of the vehicle and also causing harm to other road users. Sometimes, these vehicles fall on other vehicles. Sometimes, it is the unfastened container on the truck that falls off and lands on other vehicles and individuals.

When these tragedies happen, Nigerians wail but soon wave them off as “the way God destined it to happen.” One wonders how God destined His children to be crushed by trucks or roasted by fuel fires. It is because people are not held accountable for these accidents that they continue to happen. Government is not held accountable for the dereliction of duty of not fixing the roads; government agencies are not held accountable for not playing their roles of inspecting vehicles on the roads and their drivers to ensure that both are in good condition; vehicle owners are not held accountable to pay compensation when such tragedies occur. So, it is just a matter of time before the next tragedy occurs.

 Then, there is the fire-fighting aspect. It is sad and disappointing that both the Federal Government and the state government fire service units could not respond promptly to the Wednesday fire in Onitsha. That fire raged on and spread from around noon till late into the night. That was why the magnitude of damage was high. Following the huge criticisms heaped on the Anambra State Government over its tardy response, Governor Willie Obiano sacked Mr Martin Agbili, the Chief Fire Officer. Happily, the response to the fire incident, which occurred in the early hours of Friday through another fallen petrol tanker, was promptly arrested and extinguished, leading to no loss of lives.

 Given the inefficiency of federal and state governments, it is imperative that communities and market unions take it as a challenge to have their own fire service and stop depending on unreliable federal or state government to help them during fire emergencies. Fire service run by communities and market unions will be more efficient than that run by governments where corruption is usually the number one attraction. Sometimes it is even hard for government fire service stations to have ordinary water. Each city should have as many fire stations as possible, so as to be able to reach disaster areas within 10 minutes of notification.

 Our people have died and lost their investments unnecessarily in a country where insurance is not popular and compensation is rare; where petrol is transported on land with faulty trucks driven by reckless men who are high on drugs without any agency to test them periodically; where roads are in such a terrible shape that driving is a huge risk; where electricity fluctuates madly and goes off and on at will, leading to fire incidents; where each house buys it own cooking gas which sometimes sparks off fire disasters.

If government in Nigeria were in charge of distributing air, it would still do it poorly and cause the deaths of millions of people. It is unfortunate that each Nigerian has become a mini-government who provides their own water, electricity, roads, hospitals, schools, security, fire service, etc. We have found ourselves in a country that is hard to describe and understand. Unfortunately, we can only create ways to take care of ourselves and make our burden lighter.

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