The fuel tanker menace

It is not as if we are just witnessing fuel tanker accidents for the first time, or indeed the worst type. It is just that at every point it happens, the incident has a way of reminding us all that we have done wrong in the last several years regarding our downstream sector of the oil industry otherwise called distribution or marketing. Distribution of petroleum products in Nigeria like refining has become a huge joke. It is such that can lead us into breaking the Guinness Book of World Records in the negative. While we pretend to have initiated and implemented reforms in that sector, but the result we see everyday reminds us to check up in the dictionary again what reforms mean.

This week alone, two fuel tanker accidents occurred in different parts of the country; one, in Lagos and the other in Anambra. This accident may have elicited interests for two reasons, one, may be as a result of the current petrol scarcity around the country, there is special focus on that sector of the economy at this time; secondly, it could also be because of the sheer destruction and wastages that attended the two incidents. While, Onitsha witnessed nearly 100 deaths, Lagos saw not a soul dead but there was wanton destruction of property and businesses. It was a sight not to behold. Unfortunately, there is no way of addressing these incidents without looking into the oil industry. Since the Nigerian government ran the country aground by insisting on using trucks to move petroleum products was the day the register for future disasters like these were marked. With a seemingly large country, it is surprising that we still rely on tankers to truck our petrol around the country with the attendant damage to our roads, loss of lives in cases of accidents and even frequent damage to the vehicles themselves. Coupled with the fact that the roads are not exactly good, we will then continue to mourn deaths arising from avoidable situations such as these. The other side is very poor regulatory roles of law enforcement agencies. They prefer to be bribed than enforce road transport codes. We cannot remember the last time tankers or other articulated vehicles are stopped on the highways for mandatory checks let alone stopped from proceeding on a journey. You find the Federal Road Safety Corps, Vehicle Inspection Office, the Nigeria Police and State Traffic Management Agencies harass the daylight out of drivers and passengers of seemingly brand new cars, but only to maintain a blind eye to the rickety, ill trained and ill mannered articulated vehicle drivers. It appears they have a system that ensures these agencies collect their bribe money up front such that these tankers move freely on our roads without any form of harassment in most cases. There is a rule that says the takers should travel at night when there is less vehicular movement on our roads. Although they have resisted that due to very bad network of roads, the point is that that directive is a short term measure. The trouble, like we pointed out earlier, has to do with our trucking system. It is faulty and does not align with present day Nigerian realities. Our petrol, diesel and other such products are supposed to be transported via trains and pipelines. Also, we need to fix our refineries to stop the pressure on Lagos roads. Whatever it will take to ensure the 20 NNPC depots become functional must be done. A situation where trucks leave Sokoto to come to the same Lagos as from every other parts of the country is annoying, and must stop as quickly as possible. These things are not rocket science. We used to have them before; we used to have proper transport regulatory system that will not allow not just tankers but other heavy duty vehicles dance around on our highways. The carelessness on our roads is humongous; so long as you can part with something (bribe money), you can get away with murder. And each time accidents like this happen; the driver and conductor always take to their heels. And they will most often not be found again. No society can continue to function this way. People must be held to account for manslaughters such as the roasting to death in Onitsha. This is so because the accident is avoidable. And we also need to know when these deaths are as a result of absolute recklessness on the part of the driver or the owners of the trucks. A poorly maintained truck is an accident waiting to happen. Pending when the oil industry wide distribution systems are fixed, it is important that the Police, FRSC, VIO, etc are called up to do their jobs without bribery. They must follow strict processes before allowing tankers hit the roads. We have lost too many lives and properties to let this continue. We are a modern society not a banana republic.