Fire This Time

FIRE in Ijegun, Lagos, destroyed property worth millions of Naira and left an indeterminate number of people dead. What this type of information fails to say is that life has moved on. What remains is for blames to be shifted until the real issue is forgotten.
Life is unimportant in these parts. Everything around us confirms it. We do not even know the number of the dead, it is unimportant. Factors that led to this fire are not new. In the same way, the solutions that would be applied - blames - are the same ones that have ensured there are repeats of these incidents that kill our people and create photo opportunities for the authorities who think their work is done once they make appropriate speech.

Is it normal for dangers like pipelines to be left unguided and exposed to the possibilities of what happened in Ijegun? How many years have we spent repeating the same expectation that these pipelines should be better protected? Petrol scavengers used to start pipeline fires. The latest incident was the result of the carelessness of a construction company that did not understand the importance of having a map of the area it was working on.

The Lagos State Government that postures great attachment to construction approvals did not see the imperative of the construction company obtaining the necessary approvals, especially when it was working in an area with designated rights of way for a volatile matters like petroleum products. A delegation from the House of Representatives delegation blamed the incident on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. NNPC, it said, should have reburied the pipeline which was exposed at several points.

Is it today that the House of Representatives knew the pipelines were exposed? Is it only in Ijeguin that that this danger is displayed? Like the various pipeline fire disasters that have claimed thousands of lives in the past 10 years, this would also be forgotten as the nation tackles more pressing issues. The non-commitment of governments to beneficially enduring policies means that soon, Ijegun would be a footnote to fires and tragedies around the country.

Some of the comments have been about the poor response of the Fire Service. Again, this is a usual refrain when there is disaster, yet this deficiency of the Fire Service and other emergency services has not led to any purposely moves to effect changes in their facilities and the welfare if their personnel. Ijegun calls our attention to the dangers that circle this country.

It further tells us how unable we are - as a country - to make the minimum provisions that our society requires for daily survival. While we ignore these challenges, other societies have moved to firm measures to maximise their opportunities and limit the chances of the type of disaster in Ijegun. How this is done, in our setting, should be of interest to all those who have the power to create a different Nigeria from the indifferent one we now have.