Fuel scarcity: Maybe they really want us to trek

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3 years ago

SOME human activities defy logic. Some man and woman relationships are one of such. War is another. Erich Hartmann makes categorisation of war as one of such human activities that defy logic more profound with his famous summary of what he thinks war is. He holds that “War is a place where young people who don’t know each other and don’t hate each other kill each other, by decision of old men who know each other, hate each other but don’t kill each other.” It’s a kind of simplification of the aphorism that it’s another person’s child who is sent on errands that have time no boundaries.

Erich Hartmann, until his death in 1993, stood atop of the rankings of the most successful military pilots. He was aged 71. He is still standing firmly as the numero uno on that infamous pedestal because no fighter pilot, living or dead, has been rated as having more kills than he did. Officially, Hartmann recorded 352 aerial victories, and he attained his golden mark in viciousness by flying astonishing 1404 sorties in 825 different occasions. Hartmann lived from 1922 to 1993. He fought in the World War II which ended in 1945. Afterwards, he worked as a civilian flight instructor. So, it’s plausible to contend that this man lived long enough post-war to reflect on the flight combats, killings and their aftermath to give a postscript of what wars are.

Hartmann was a man of war. His rather simple but profound analysis of war came in retrospect; and that’s some simplistic reflection from a man of immense experience, who was counted among the fortunate to have lived through, fought in and survived the Second World War. The current campaign by Russia in Ukraine has brought Hartmann to heart. Sorties, such that Hartmann involved in, are no tea parties. But Russia which started a war in Ukraine isn’t considering this. Vladimir Putin is not concerned about the human and material cost. And that’s one of the reasons some human activities defy logic. Putin and others who know and hate each other have sent young people who don’t know one another to kill themselves. That is war. That defies logic.

Another occurrence that defies logic is the distribution and sale of petroleum products in Nigeria. Even with the man they say is Mai Gaskiya (The Truthful One) at the helm at our Petroleum Ministry, the confusion in the Nigerian petroleum sector has remained sordid and intractable. The pricing of petrol in Nigeria is like magic. The abracadabra in that sector of our national life is bemusing. Yet it is not anywhere near being solved, with Nigerians left in the dizzying lurch. No, don’t bring the equally sordid electricity situation into it yet. That’s another pot of terrible mess. Nigerians are going through horrible experiences at petrol filling stations just to buy fuel. They go there with detached petrol tanks of their electricity generating sets. Mechanics too now go to petrol filling stations with detached tanks of vehicles to be able to get petrol! Consider the ripple effect of the inexplicable fuel scarcity on the Nigerian economy. Ruminate on the anxiety ordinary Nigerians battle daily as they struggle just to get by.

At first, we were told that the cause of the fuel scarcity was withdrawal of the bad fuel imported by known operators in the petroleum sector of our economy. There was no shame, from any of the relevant quarters, as to why the quality control measures were negated. The flawed fuel didn’t seep into the country, it gushed in, making its way through the national controls. Then the fuel also made its way through the distribution maze to the petrol dispensing stations across the country. Nigerians who bought the petrol knew that something had hit them. Their vehicles, bought in this regime of expensive dollar, coughed, squealed and quenched. Nigerians cried to their leaders, but nothing came through their tears. Despite all the assurances, scarcity of the product persisted. Nigerians remained in their misery until Russia’s aggression against Ukraine commenced. Then, our constituted authorities found and latched on that as another irksome excuse. Fuel meant for Nigeria, they said, is stuck in the high seas by the Russia/Ukraine conflict! We don’t even who to run to or what to do. And the fuel misery intensifies.

Then came the rankling submission by president Muhammadu Buhari that if he had not built the railways, people would have been trekking from Ibadan to Lagos and vice versa. Nigerians in the region are aghast at the nadir from which that kind of thought is coming. And to think that such came from their president, in the year 2022 speaks to the quality of governance going on in the country. “The people from South West can tell better because between Lagos and Ibadan by now, if we hadn’t done what we did, people would have been trekking because the road was not there, the rail was not there, and there was so much insecurity. But we thank the international community. We thank China and Chinese investors, who came along to support the Lagos-Ibadan transport projects.” President Buhari had said this when he received traditional and political leaders from Kaduna State in Aso Rock Villa, and it was contained in a statement by Mr. Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity).

The president has done well by completing the railway project. He also rightly noted that no country can advance without road, rail and power. But saying that the people would have been trekking in this age, because of what his administration did in the last seven years is sadly self-serving and condescending. He shouldn’t have tarred the South West Region in that brush. It shouldn’t have been the South West that was already on the front foot of educational and infrastructural development in Nigeria. Before the advent of the corn, the fowl was eating something.

If we leave out the Awolowo era that saw to the coming of such monuments as the Cocoa House, Lagos State in the South West region had planned a metro line transport system to ease transportation problems of the city. That revolutionary project was scuttled in 1985 by the Federal Military Government of Nigeria headed by this same Buhari. Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the governor of Lagos State who awarded the contract, lamented the cancellation while speaking at a ceremony in 2015. He said the cancellation of the metroline transport contract was “a great disservice to the people of Lagos State.” He said “whoever advised or made that decision took a very wrong decision.” The Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission announced through its executive director, Mr. Seye Oyeleye, that railway masterplan was ready to link 44 towns and cities in the region. Oyeleye said the impediment to achieving this dream was the railway laws of Nigeria, which were colonial era laws.

The people commuting from Lagos to Ibadan and vice versa are proactive. They would have taken the advantage of the education of the people of the area to develop modern transportation systems that would have prevented them from trekking, if Buhari was not our president.

Perhaps, the president and the powers that be want us to trek and feel the impact of his infrastructural development. That is why petrol has become as scarce as the feaces of a masquerader. It might be that they really want us to trek!

IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

“It is gladdening that only six months after that memorable event, the Minister of Interior is back in Enugu to perform another significant and symbolic ceremony. This time, the Minister accompanied by the Acting Comptroller General of Immigration, is in the Coal City to unveil the enhanced E-Passport and Commission the Passport Production Centre for the South East situated in Enugu within this Complex.”

Speaking also, the Acting Comptroller General enthused that the people of the South East can now rejoice, pointing out that it was not that his Service oblivious of the suffering of the people but that time and resources had not permitted earlier action.

He commended Gov Ugwuanyi for his support and assistance to the State Command that had culminated in the realization of the project.

Responding, Aregbesola showered encomium on Ugwuanyi who he described as his good friend and one who has been of immense assistance to the Immigration Service in Enugu state.

The minister said not only does South East have a passport production centre within reach but also that the people now have access to an array of choices of the enhanced E-Passport that will aid their globe-trotting disposition.