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We have an uncanny appetite for the absurd. We are quick at repeating errors. Always eager to goof; it’s our delight. We deliberately do this with eerie audacity.
To err is our pleasure. It is our area of rare core competence. We strangely cherish it with relish. We do sordid things for the wrong reasons.
Are we eternally cursed? We need to wonder aloud. We should examine our heads. Who did we offend? Who offended us?
For how long are we going to do things the absurd way? We are still teething at age 61 years. We ought to have long outgrown this stage. Our teething problem shouldn’t be a perennial one.
Things turned sour in the mid-1970s, perhaps 1974. That was the year we probably experienced our first pronounced fuel scarcity. Before then, it was alien to us.
Yet, we are still where we were, 48 years after. We are struggling to overcome the same problem. It ought to be a teething one. It confronted us way back in 1974. Huge shame on us all!
We keep on drifting, back and forth. It’s all motion without movement. We are treating the ailment in the rudderless manner we did some 48 odd years ago.
No relief, no reprieve and no positive results. We insist on the same approach, the same attitude, all over again. We simply refuse to change our medication to suit the illness. It did not work in 1974. We knew it would never work. But we have stubbornly opted to stick to it.
That sends a damning message: Our leadership is grossly bereft of ideas. Daftness and cluelessness have set in. How can we be on the same spot for this long? This is baffling and puzzling.
The reason we are sinking by the day. Things are going from worse to worst. Frightening dimensions are speedily taking over. Those who pretend to be our leaders are leading us to hopelessness by the minute.
Great pity, our leaders have rendered us useless. We are at their beck and call. There’s nothing they have not done to us. We have been reduced to mere a chessboard.
Caged, manipulated, manoeuvred and cajoled That has been our unfortunate lot. We are very vulnerable, at their whims and caprices. We are no better than pawns in their crooked hands.
The reason they behave with reckless impunity. They wouldn’t care a hoot whatever happened or did not happen to us. We have been subdued, making us their willing prey. With that, they comfortably forge ahead unrepentantly.
They have become adamant, reckless and tactless. They have turned wild and weird. They have nothing new in their approaches and tactics.
We are being messed up, as things get messier. Still, they won’t beat a reasonable retreat. Before our very eyes, under our noses, our fortunes have nosedived into misfortunes.
The precious black gold, oil, metamorphosed into our albatross. It’s a source of frustration. It has become a heavy burden, an extremely heavy cross. We almost wish we never had it.
And our leaders are looking the other way. They remain glued to their deadly guns, doing the unthinkable. Where do we go from here? Nowhere in particular!
Foul fuel crept into our life in 1997. That was the year the “offensive fuel” entered our long list of lexicon. Yes, the era of the military junta of General Sani Abacha, the ultimate maximum ruler.
It wreaked havoc on its heels. It damaged car engines and caused health hazards.
Eleven years after, it reared its ugly head one more time. In February 2008, Oando delivered 33,000 metric tonnes of gasoline. The bad fuel was brought in from Gunvor International BV, Amsterdam, a commodity-trading firm in Europe.
After several reports of damaging vehicles, Oando admitted the fuel was offensive. It agreed the commodity was contaminated with ethanol. Oando confirmed this with its supplier.
Now, they have taken us to their much-taunted next level. They did that with fanfare on January 20, 2022. That day, these funny characters gave a bewildered nation a deadly piece of information. It was life-threatening. They claimed they discovered methanol in the fuel they themselves imported.
More than a month on, they have not cleaned up as it were. The result is long queues in our filling station. They are gradually turning it to another cash cow. Their intention is to feast on it indefinitely.
Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is saddled to regulate the downstream sector. It is duty-bound to test petrol for quality and ensure it is fit for consumption.
But in this case it failed woefully. It could not detect the high level of methanol contained in the fuel. Mallam Mele Kyari is Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He admitted as much: He confirmed: “Nigeria does not test for methanol content in petrol.”
That is a dangerous gulf. Daily Sun stumbled on a document. It was quite revealing and alarming. The Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) for premium motor spirit (PMS), petrol, was involved. It prohibits the inclusion of methanol for petrol in Nigeria.
No head has rolled since the fuel mess. Can anyone beat that? Nobody cared to tell us the worth of this foul fuel. Instead, they are opting for the abnormal. Plans are allegedly on to borrow N201 billion only, for its clean-up.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is going cap-in-hand begging for a meagre N13 billion to fix federal universities. But NNPC badly needs N201 billion to get rid of the bad fuel it imported. What a misplaced priority!
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, lent unsolicited credence to the shenanigans: “In the last weeks, Nigerians have grappled with fuel scarcity, not because of the absence of supply of the products but due to inspection failure, which allowed adulterated products into the country. This is regrettable.”
Then, what next? He fumbled, he derailed all the way: “It is, therefore, not a time to query anyone, but a time to come together to salvage the plight of the average Nigerian. After the storm settles, there will be time enough to investigate and get to the bottom, so that this does not repeat itself.”
Minister, you completely missed the vital point. Please, off the mic, hold it! Do not allow any dust to settle. The time to act precisely is now.
You have no other golden opportunity than now. Or never! We patiently await your quickest response.
Remember, we keep our fragile fingers crossed. We will not blink. It’s a promise, a vow.
