By Stephen Peter Okangla

On Tuesday the 2nd day of the month of March 2021 it was like hell was let loose on Nigeria as there was outcry from all corners of the country as a result of the fuel scarcity occasioned in the country. In Maiduguri it is not different either as you will discover the normalize abnormalities from the long queues that characterize our filling stations and highways. Boom another fuel scarcity scene has surfaced in the country, in fact this is a regular visitor! Although this is the tradition and situation of things in a country that produces million barrels of crude daily, hence we have accepted this gory story as ours and have taken situations the way we see it as the tunnel remains dark with no end in sight.

The strange thing is fuel scarcity is normally witness during festive and yuletide seasons as this season serve as period of jamboree for corrupt and kleptomaniac individuals and marketers who capitalize on ineffective government policies to unleash hardship on the vulnerable masses, today fuel scarcity has defile the occasional periods of visitation and now knocks at our door daily. Anytime fuel scarcity visits, it is accompanied by:

  1. high cost of food items;
  2. high cost of transportation;
  3. high cost of living and;
  4. lack of mobility.

Who do we blame for this innumerable woes of ours? Should we blame our aged parents in the village? Or the motorist? Should we blame the independent oil marketers? Or the Government? I blame the Government! At 60 one is not sure if Nigeria is a developing country or a third world country! This is truly pathetic! It is pertinent to ask ourselves if Nigeria is truly an Oil producing country, because I have not in my journey so far in the world heard of oil scarcity in Ghana, Niger, Morroco, South Africa and the neighbouring Benin Republic just to mention a few. At 60 it is an insult and embarrassment for Nigeria to be importing PMS and other related product from Niger Republic and other countries. It is sane if one demands to know our sins which is surely responsible for our retarding and obesity growth. Are the gods truly angry at us? Have we lost contact with God? What happen to our Refineries which we spent billions of naira on turn around maintenance? Will heaven fall if our Government build new refineries which we serve the need of the people?

Is economic stability not supposed to be a fundamental objectives of our government? Is the security and welfare of the people not supposed to be the primary purpose of Government as provided in Section 14 (2) (b) of the Nigeria constitution?

I groan deeply for this country, so do every responsible and concern citizen. The vision and mission of Nigeria as championed by our founding fathers have crashed and suffered an ill fate in the hands of our successive democratic leaders. What a shame for a son to render desolate the house he inherited from his fathers! Today, Government policies are handled with levity, matched with ill-will and execute by falsehood. Today, we witness long queues in our filling station, suffer hardship for the product we own and pay through our nose to put food on our tables. We are pronounced doom even before birth! We bewitch thee O’ Nigeria? Why do we plant cassava and expect to harvest yam? Why do we go fishing on a palm tree?

Our undoing is that we fail to tell ourselves the truth, we allow hungry men  creep into the corridors of power. In fact we are the enemies of ourselves, we are too careful on accumulation of wealth that we forget the course of leadership and accountability!  We keep on repeating same thing severally and expect a different result. Its real time we light our candle and liberate ourselves from the shackles of self-inflicted poverty, darkness and hardship.

Thanks as we heed the call to turn over a new leaf!

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Stephen Okangla writes from the University of Maiduguri. He can be reached via:

Phone/WhatsApp: 08132040369, Email: stephenokangla@gmail.com 

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