Poverty, Ignorance, Greed
Yes, certainly poverty, ignorance and greed were in part responsible for the inferno unleashed in the Lagos area of Abule Egba, Nigeria, yesterday when a gasoline pipeline ruptured and exploded. Greed, to begin with, enticed and encouraged pipeline thieves to tap into the pipeline overnight to collect as much of the liquid as they could for sale on the black market in their bid to enrich themselves.One can understand that mindset for it is the ruling governing elite that is demonstrating how they themselves rob the country and its millions of their patrimony, by selling the country's resources abroad and pocketing the proceeds to enhance their own bank accounts, with little concern about the state of the country's impoverished population, nor their responsibility to ensure that state institutions and infrastructure be maintained and furthered.
Government corruption from the highest levels to the lowest echelons keep the population in poverty, while satisfying the energy concerns of well-financed trading partners. A country with enormous energy reserves which has the potential to advance living conditions within the country itself instead revels in selling out its responsibility to the highest bidder.
Nigeria is Africa's largest petroleum producer and as such has the potential to bring its people prosperity. In a country where a small flask of gasoline can be sold illegally at a price equal to a month's salary for the poor, everyone seeks to make a small profit where they can. Residents of this area claimed a gang had been illegally tapping the pipeline for months, carting away their spoil in tankers.
Tapping into a pipeline brings its own risks, not only of detection, but of explosions such as this one which took place yesterday killing hundreds of Nigerians in a poor neighbourhood. The overnight thieves didn't bother to ensure they had adequately sealed the conduit and as a result hundreds of nearby residents rushed to collect what they could before discovery.
The rupture ignited just at dawn, and women with little children, young men, old men, all were absorbed in the inferno that erupted. The gas scavengers, anxious to earn a little extra money, collecting the fuel in cans, buckets even plastic bags, were left a heap of bones and charred limbs. Their relatives would be unable to identify their loved ones, but left to grieve without closure.
An engineer who lives nearby described the scene, where he begged the scavengers to depart the scene, knowing full well the potential for disaster. Those whom he attempted to convince they were in danger scorned his warnings and splashed fuel on him, as well as on the few police officers who were also unsuccessful in persuading the people to depart.
Residents, it would appear, blame greed, graft and poverty. "This was a preventable tragedy", said a lawyer whose home is situated nearby where the blast occurred. "It was poverty, ignorance and greed." "How can this be, that people are so poor in Nigeria that they will risk their lives for a little thing?" a Nigerian university lecturer said. "But boats leave for America every day filled with oil."
To which one is tempted to respond: Why is it that the highly educated within the country, those who represent the middle class, do not respond to the urgency of the peoples' needs? They know that corruption is endemic and widespread, they're aware that mismanagement of the resources create fuel shortages within the country. Where is the conscience of those who are capable of making a difference?
Where is the popular movement to challenge the government and its massive corruption? The engineers, the lawyers, the university professors acknowledge what is happening, but if they make no effort to institute change, to encourage a popular revolution demanding government accountability, this kind of disaster will repeat itself again and again.
Place the blame where it rightfully belongs. Demand accountability and change.
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, December 27, 2006
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