Jigawa State and Nigeria as a whole suffered another tragedy on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 when a petrol tanker travelling from Kano to Nguru in Yobe State, overturned near Khadija University, Majiya village in Taura Local Government Area of Jigawa State.

About 140 lives were lost and another 70 injured in the inferno that ensued when villagers besieged the scene to scoop free petrol. A scene of petrol tanker explosion is usually as if the world is ending. The terror, confusion and screaming of people being burned alive is something better imagined than experienced even by a bystander.

From President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, the Governor of the state, Umar Namadi; to the Chairman of Taura Local Government Area, Shuaibu Hambali and others, the usual after-tragedy government fire brigade routine ensued. The Police led other emergency responders to bury the victims in mass graves while taking the injured to nearby hospitals.

Petrol tanker tragedies of this sort are pretty frequent occurrences in Nigeria, the worst of which happened in Jesse (Idjhere) in Ethiope Local Government Area of Delta State on October 18, 1998. A total of 1,098 people, mainly women and youths, lost their lives while collecting spilt petrol from a fallen tanker.

Perhaps, the need to prevent a re-occurrence was what motivated a brave local man, Ejiro Otarigho, to jump into a burning petrol tanker on June 11, 2022, and drive it to a safer place in Agbarho, Delta State, for which he was honoured by Vanguard Newspapers and others.

Why do Nigerians rush to fallen fuel tankers and their imminent painful death, rather than away from the danger? The twin siblings of poverty and ignorance are at play here. With petrol selling above N1,000 per litre in most parts of the country, it is liquid gold. When a tanker falls, the urge to get some free petrol is a temptation many people find almost impossible to resist, which is why the scale of tragedy is usually so much.

We place much of the blame at the doorstep of bad government in Nigeria. Poverty and ignorance have been so weaponised that vulnerable citizens jump at short-term “gains” which either take their lives or render them more vulnerable. These include vote buying and other forms of inducement, and scooping of spilt fuel.

The only sensible thing to do when a tanker falls is to run away from it as fast, and as far, as possible. Our people must be made to get this message.

Government must work harder and return Nigeria to the practice of distributing petroleum products through pipelines, depots and by rail as all civilised countries do. The roads must be fixed and the trucking industry properly regulated to enable only professionals handle fuel tanker movements.

Good government is about prevention of tragedies.