The recent explosions at Abizi in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State and Uzuaku in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State have once again raised concerns about the reckless manner with which we conduct our affairs as a people and government.
Both explosions, triggered by illegal oil refining in the affected communities, occurred within two weeks, leading to avoidable deaths, destruction of valuable property and wildlife.
Over 100 persons lost their lives in the Imo blast, which occurred on Friday, April 22, 2022, while 10 persons were killed in the Abia incident on Friday, May 6, 2022.
Coming in quick succession, the incidents would never have occurred if the authorities had been proactive and diligent enough.
It would be recalled that before the Imo and Abia incidents, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State had personally led a task force against bunkering and illegal oil refineries existing in different parts of the state and he found that security men were in cahoots with the refiners.
Wike then called for the redeployment of the Commandant of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Rivers.
Indeed, on Monday, April 11, less than a fortnight to the Imo disaster, buildings used in the storage of artistically refined petroleum products exploded and burnt for days at the Bonny-Bille-Nembe jetty in Port Harcourt, the state capital, killing five persons, including a pregnant woman and a two-month-old baby.
Also, civil society organisations have severally accused security agents of issuing permits to illegal refinery operators for a handsome pay-off.
The point is that the so-called illegal refineries, which litter the thickets of many states in the Niger Delta, are known to the authorities and conniving security men who play the ostrich after the inevitable happens.
This contradictory behaviour must stop and a more organised approach adopted in order to eliminate the menace of illegal refineries. Operating such refineries in a make-shift environment will always lead to disastrous outcomes, in addition to sabotaging the Nigerian economy.
Nonetheless, we sympathise with the families of those who died in the Imo and Abia explosions.
The Imo and Abia State Governments have separately launched an investigation into the disasters. Meanwhile, we call on the federal government to expedite action on the Petroleum Industry Act, particularly in the area dealing with community inclusion in the management of oil and gas exploited in their areas.
In addition, security agents must work together to stop the operations of illegal refineries. Operation Dakatar Da Barawo or ‘Stop the Thief’, which the Navy launched in response to Governor Wike’s crackdown, should work with the NSCDC and other task forces to protect the network of oil installations in the Niger Delta region from vandalism.
But the Federal Government must note that this problem will not go away without the provision of a viable, life sustaining and productive alternative for unemployed youths who feel neglected and abandoned to fate.
What will render the combustible pipeline vandalism and the operation of illegal refineries unattractive to Nigerians is not pious speech making or investigations that often end up in committee reports, but massive investments in the ruined oil and gas communities to give their inhabitants a sense of belonging, such as the PIA seeks to address.
It is a sad commentary on the current state of affairs in Nigeria that exploding illegal refineries and oil fires continue to occur in the Niger Delta since the tragic pipeline fire that claimed 1,082 lives at Atiegwo, near Jesse in Delta State on October 18, 1998. It is time to put an end to the wanton destruction of human, animal, plant life and the national income earner.
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