NIGERIA AT CHRISTMAS: CASHLESS, CASHTRAPPED, FUELTRAPPED AND FOODTRAPPED SOCIETY

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Once again it’s Christmas all over the world. A time for joy and laughter, that’s why even though it’s a special time traditionally for Christians all over the world to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, it has also become a time set aside for many at the end of every year for merriment as it has now been accepted by nearly all as a special holiday period for even very large numbers of non-Christians across the globe.

Many save up to make trips to spend time with loved ones from one point to the other especially those who have not had time all through the year due to the everyday life’s hustle to make ends meet, hence Christmas for such people is a “catching up” time.

Christmas, a time you feel so much love in the air as no doubts gift shops all over the world are right now packed full with last minute buyers and of course with the many sales ongoing in virtually all the stores across the globe, you are bound to find gob smacked attendants on their feet all day attending to customers’ needs including unending questions from big-buying’ as well as the window shoppers or ‘time-wasting’ ones who will end up picking a lot less than what they must have troubled the attendants over. But then, that’s one of the challenges in working in such stores.

For us in Nigeria too, it’s Christmas again and a time typical for petroleum marketers to make their ‘end of year killing profits’ at the detriment of the masses. Therefore, we are once again like a couple of years before now at Christmas, faced with the recurrent fuel scarcity thus leading to long queues at the stations where people have to wait for long hours as though expecting the second ‘coming of Christ’ just to get a few litres of fuel and the most mind boggling part is that many sleep at the stations just to ensure they get to buy as soon as these stations commence sale yet some of these ones leave disappointed  without buying even after the horrid hours spent waiting.

This time around, we are not only faced with fuel scarcity which has led to the crazy hike in transport fare by over a 100% thus hindering some families from travelling for the yuletide season, we are also faced with long queues at ATM machines in all the banks in the country including the ones in the rural areas where on a good day would barely have more than two persons waiting to use those machines. People can’t collect their money from the banks to even buy food talk less of buying the fuel which the ‘black’ marketers are selling at very outrageous and exorbitant prices.

We have not only become a cashless society but have moved on to a ‘cash-trapped’ society as we now have to wake up very early and rush off to queue up at banks just so we can collect our own money which was saved in these banks.

In all of these happenings, it’s still the masses who are affected as those who steal us ‘red’ on a daily basis in their various leadership positions, still have their way around getting all their needs met at this season from ‘the backs’ including the scarce fuel as well as cash from some of  these banks’ officials who are sometimes even willing to make delivery to the respective homes of these ‘top shots’. While the rest remain cashless, ‘cashtrapped’, ‘fueltrapped’ and even ‘foodtrapped’. What an irony of life!

Gosh! Nigeria is beginning to choke one up more and more by the day. We seem not to be getting out of the woods anytime soon.

Nevertheless, let me still use this opportunity to wish everyone in Nigeria including all those lucky ones in diaspora a merry Christmas even as the rest of us here endure the season of a  ‘cashtrapped’ holiday taking place all over the country at this moment.

God help us all!

STELLA ENE-INYANG

NO LIGHT, NO FUEL, NO BREEZE, NO SLEEP, NO WORK, NO MONEY! OH LORD HAVE MERCY!!

When Toni Braxton did the song “the heat” never did it occur to me that many years after, I would be thinking this way about it as every second of the day lately, nearly every statement I make has the word ‘heat’ in it. 

I would be having a conversation with someone whether on the phone or otherwise, the next thing that would slip out of my mouth after a few seconds would be such as “mehnn! This heat will finish someone” and the replies are nearly always the same as the person would concur “you can say that again” or “that’s no longer news”.

I had the longest night (in my life so far) yesterday as I spent more than half of the night trying to sleep but did a very bad job at it because I kept waking up after a few seconds of drifting off no thanks to NEPA, PHCN or is it IKDEC or whatever the new names are. Gosh! The heat was unbearable and after the generator set was turned off at midnight; it was ‘welcome to hell’ as the heat became a lot more intense.

While I was doing the job of tossing and turning all through the night, I cussed and swore at the several Discos in charge of light distribution in the country and the failing government who obviously have no inkling what next to do about the light/electricity issue which is no longer epileptic but now looks completely dead and just waiting to be buried.

Pardon me if you find any errors in this particular write-up as I’m practically half asleep and half-awake in the course of this piece. I’m in the office and trying to do some work, but you know, like the popular saying “you cannot cheat nature” the lost hours of sleep is trying to force me into fulfilling the required amount of sleep for a balanced active day-life and this is affecting manpower at work.

Away from me, I’m sure many others are on the same turf with me on this today, dozing off and on as well as cranky having had the same night experiences as I have had; and this on the long run would no doubts impact negatively on the micro/macro economy of our dear country Nigeria.

With fuel grossly unavailable and being sold at outrageous prices, it’s getting more difficult for even the rich who now also cry to run their gen sets for too long, not to talk of the average Nigerian let alone the masses who can at this point in time barely afford to have their daily meals.

Interestingly, even when you have the inverters, one still requires certain amount of steady supply of light to get it fully charged for the night and even at that “how long would the inverter last” especially in a family where every room has at least a fan.

Looking at it from another angle, it bothers me to think that even the environment is now so upset that the windows one normally enjoys a huge amount of fresh/cool breeze all through the night is now on a steady stand-still.

So, on behalf of teeming Nigerians, especially those who are not giving their best at work given the ‘lost hours of sleep’, I hereby make this clarion call to all those in charge of electricity and the government at large that the electricity system be brought back to life as not many people can afford the alternatives of inverters, solar et al.

It’s now a case of no light, no fuel, no breeze, no sleep, no work and no money! Oh Lord!! Have mercy and save our soul!!!

'BROUHAHA' AND THE ANGRY MEN AT THE STATIONS

Some Nigerians are not smiling at all. They now at the very least of provocations vent out their anger on the nearest person or thing.

This morning on my way to the office, my fuel tank was already on ‘RED’ after giving the ‘low fuel’ sign all weekend. In the course of the weekend, fuel was bought for the generator set, but then, I could not *for the love of me, my car and my hard earned money* afford to fill the car with the fuel bought from the ‘black’ marketers which 98% of the time is adulterated for fear of the car developing a fault and thereafter spend money on unplanned repairs. A friend is still in a dilemma with his mechanics for the past two months due to bad fuel which he bought from those marketers. The annoying part of his dilemma is that he actually got that ‘bad’ fuel at the most ridiculous amount you can ever imagine. Did I hear you say he bought trouble at a huge price?

And so with my friend’s experience on my mind, I decided to drive out by ‘faith’ hoping that the fuel left in the car would get me to the nearest ‘selling’ gas station. And of course, I planned on queuing irrespective of how long the queue turned out as long as it was moving, I was willing to wait.

Luckily, after a few minutes’ drive, I came across a station with a very short queue and most interestingly devoid of miscreants or any form of rowdiness. With the station manager at the gates, the process was orderly and trust ‘yours sincerely’ to swiftly join the queue and in ‘no time’ I was out of the station smiling away with a full-tank and of course a full gallon as well for the generator set at home. Was I happy? YAY! I was!!

Pardon me; I started off talking about ‘angry Nigerians’ right? By now you may be wondering ‘what is the link? Please stay with me as I intend getting somewhere with all of these.

While at the station, the manager and I got talking and then he mentioned how one of the pumps, which I noticed wasn’t working got destroyed by an angry customer who got upset when the fuel attendant refused to sell to him insisting that he, the customer who had ‘jumped queue’, that is, maneuvered his way into the station, would have to go out of the station, join the queue like every other persons and wait for his turn.

However the customer wouldn’t have any of that, so he vehemently took the nozzle from the attendant hitting it around the pump stand, negating the fact that his action could lead to an inferno, even as he kicked and pushed it as though he could pull it off the ground and eventually left the station fuming and ranting. At the end of the brouhaha, of course the counter started malfunctioning.

Back to the office, the first headline I saw online coming off a newspaper was: soldiers beat fuel station manager for failing to sell in jerrycans”.

I laughed out loud and at that point said “|Nigerians are not smiling”. The times are hard enough as there are no doubts and everyone is spending wisely and so when you see such headlines and hear stories such as the man at that station, you know it’s the entire frustrating economic situation.

According to reports on that headline, unidentified soldiers at Damaturu in Yobe state on Saturday night approached the Manager at one of the stations demanding fuel to be sold to them in Jerry cans but the manager refused and it was his refusal which got him a serious beating.

Narrating his ordeal, the Manager, who is now on admission at a specialist hospital in Damaturu, said “I was about leaving the station when some soldiers approached me that they are coming from Buratai and going to Maiduguri so I should get them fuel. I told them we have closed but I can get them 30 litres that will take them to Maiduguri but they said no, they want the fuel in jerry cans. Then I told them I can’t give them in jerry cans except the 30 liters that would help them to get to Maiduguri.

“While we were arguing over this, one of them called one among them to go and bring the jerry cans. Within that time, I found a way of escaping from their sight because I noticed they were not ready to listen to me.

“I went and did my evening prayers, came back and sat opposite the filling station then I saw five soldiers coming towards me. Before I could say anything, they started beating me up and everybody that was there became surprised. Somebody wanted to call with his phone and they collected the phone and started beating him too.

“It was at this point that I ran to ‘A’ Division Police Station. They followed me to the Police Station and in front of the DPO they continued the beating,” the manager concluded. 

There are now speculations that this act by the Soldiers could lead to more fuel hardship for residents and motorists in Damaturu as Alhaji Audu Girigiri, the Chairman of the Independent Marketers in the state has vowed not to open or receive any fuel supply in all stations in Damaturu and Yobe’s entirety “if the military authority does not take action to punish those soldiers within the next 48 hours” even as he sympathized with the hospitalized station manager.  

There were also accusations against Security Personnel from the Residents and motorists of the state who narrated their unwholesome activities of jumping queues to get fuel and thereafter selling in the ‘black’ market for as high as N500 a litre.

Hmmm! N500 a litre indeed!!

Girigiri while expressing his disappointment added “I think the Petrol Task Force in the state is a failure because it has created more problems than solutions. It is this task force that is causing scarcity and hardship for people in Damaturu presently unlike before when fuel used to be available".

Alright, Petrol Task Force, over to you. What say you?

 

"I Better Pass My Neighbour" Gets A Ban

A few years ago, loads of Nigerians could very well do without having generator sets because electricity was a lot more better until recently when NEPA, PHCN or whatever it is now called became VERY epileptic.  Back then, when the light goes off, one would still be seated for a couple of minutes until the light was restored unless there's a major fault such as a transformer blowing up due to fluctuations or huge surge of current.

The epileptic light supply brought  the flooding of the Nigerian markets with all sorts of generator sets. Until then, there were very few homes with generators as they were mainly found in places which included large organisations and hospitals for backup should the need arise.

As the importation of these generators boomed, the National Electricity Power source kept getting worse and of course while the importers smiled to the banks, the health off the people dwindled as many Nigerian families or their family members died/became ill due to heavy exposure to carbon from the fumes of the generators which started polluting the entire country.

Apart from the fumes, other hazards are linked to these sets. Few years ago, I lost two friends who died from injuries sustained when their sets exploded. We've heard of ignorant children who were sent to turn on these sets and they went with open flame candles. The rest is history. 

With the importation of these sets which came in different sizes, every home irrespective of  income can now afford a set. The commonest of these sets is the smallest of them all which is locally and popularly called "I better pass my neighbour" suggesting at least a class above the neighbour who cannot afford any.

This 'I better pass my neighbour'  and the bigger ones as well as the heavy duty ones have become a huge menace to society causing major health and environmental pollution. The noise from all these sets when turned on at the same time in any area can make any sane person run made especially at night if you live in a well populated environment. Even when you buy the so called 'silent' ones, *hmmm* after a while, they join the noisy ones irrespective of monthly 'servicing' by the suppliers, the once 'silent' generator set would eventually join the league of  what I call 'shouting' sets.

It is noteworthy to mention also that while the importers of these sets are smiling to the banks, their accomplices, fuel marketers/owners of gas stations who it seems are obviously hoping that this situation remains are also happy visiting the banks and of course making their account officers happy and the chain of happy people continues at the detriment of major Nigerians.

It is now a trend to see long queues of gallons on one side of a pump at the stations and longer queues of cars on the other side. The cars' queues are normally longer because the attendants would rather attend more to those buying in gallons and then collect extras from them without apologies than selling to car owners who would only buy at the exact pump price.

Now with the scarcity of fuel biting harder by the day, it is even now trendier to find people after getting properly dressed, would thereafter carry an empty gallon on his/her way to work just in case he/she stumbles on a station where there are no long queues.

And so it is with a round of applause I received the news that the Federal government has banned the importation of the 'I better pass my neighbour'  for sale which is the commonest and easiest to sell off compared with the other brand of generators.

This is a good pointer that maybe the light situation will become better or get back to the way it was in the 80s and 90s. *Did I hear anybody say Amen?*

A spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service, Madugu Sanni Jubrin who is the controller of Federation Operations Unit Zone A in Lagos,  said the smaller generators which have now been banned by the Federal Government cause air pollution and destruction of  lungs and breathing system hence its ban.

"People"  according to him after the ban, “are still interested in smuggling them in, that is why we intercept them. If you go to the market, you still see them because people have imported them before the ban. So it is the leftover they had before the ban that they are selling because the law did not backdate the ban and it is not an absolute prohibition. It is prohibition by trade which means you cannot bring it in large quantity and sell to the public. That is the type of prohibition we have on this but if you buy one piece, Customs will not seize it”.

I believe with time, even the importation of any kind of generator set will be BANNED  so that our environment would become sane again even as electricity power improves.

So stakeholders! Start importing other things which would be more beneficial to Nigerians and the environment without any side effects!!

Like always, NO HARD FEELINGS!