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?
