subject: Fuel Scarcity - The Shame Of Nigeria [print this page] Why complain? Are you the only one here? I really didn't want to begin to answer myself... later I began to wonder what was really responsible for this avoidable WICKEDNESS... first it was the tanker drivers strike in Lagos... I remember that at my church we had to buy ten litres of fuel then which was about 650naira for 3,000naira (over 400% inflation).. I wondered why we had to be subjected to such in this recession... Very hard times indeed... Not as if it is acceptable in the most bountiful seasons.
Again I came back to reality... reality was I didn't want to sleep in darkness... I hated the heat (particularly for those of you that have been in Lagos lately the heat you can understand). Has global warming totally destroyed the layer protecting Lagos from the ferocious rays of the sun? Was this the effect of the excessive pollution from both industrial and domestic generators? Really that was not what bothered me at the moment (maybe we shall discuss that some other time) I just did not want to spend another night of heat and discomfort... I have an office to resume to at morning... the least gift I could give myself was a comfortable night rest...
The fuel scarcity in Nigeria is unexplainable... I just couldn't and still can't get it...
Suddenly, I began to think of the fire outbreaks that have often accompanied this kind of fuel rush...
Not quite a minute later, I couldn't understand what was going on but fuel was being spattered from a jerry can on those close-by in a commotion that sprang up suddenly... but I hadn't come here for a fuel bath, I just wanted fuel to power my generator.
I knew I had grown lazy in my athletics over the years but the speed at which I fled gave me renewed hope... I knew I had great things to achieve on earth and I certainly didn't want to waste my life in fire disaster... As a matter of fact no life is deserving of such torture... No not one.
I wondered why we suffer from what we have so abundantly, I couldn't and can't understand why oil has become our second greatest tragedy, the first of course being bad leadership.
Nobel Laurette; Prof. Wole Soyinka spoke about the fall of monarchy in Europe and how the people ensured its collapse... an institution he stressed that was believed to be divine... No matter what, when a people are continuously oppressed a time would come when they would resist such oppression.. I know Nigerians have a high threshold for Oppression but I wonder when that threshold is exceeded what would happen next...
Suddenly a big fight started... I wasn't going to let myself be caught in the middle of such commotion... I damned the heat, darkness and discomfort... I didn't want to join the long list of the many victims of Nigeria's OPPRESSION... I pitied the fellow who was now being battered by a group of young men... I wondered why he had left his home, perhaps for the same reason as I did (maybe his wife and little child expecting him home)... but now he was heading towards being the next guest to the closest hospital.
Enough of all this nonsense...I have to leave this place now, I said to myself.... As I departed with my empty jerry can, a little bit depressed but glad that I was still alive I asked myself, Is there hope for this Nation?
We must as a people begin to resist all this kind of WICKEDNESS, peaceful rallies must hold, articles must be written, interviews granted and we must employ every legitimate means to fight against this cartels... enemies of our Nation. We must as Martin Luther King said "Not take the tranquilizing drugs of gradualism". We must begin to act now... EVERY VOICE OF PROTEST COUNTS!
I know many people have faced much more crude situations... Many never lived to tell their story... this my little piece is dedicated to them but we most MOBILIZE THE TOTALITY OF OUR WILL TO RESIST ALL FORMS OF OPPRESSION EVEN AS WE STRUGGLE FOR A BETTER NATION...
