Nigeria: Farewell To Fuel Scarcity

By Chuks Iloegbunam

Through the ages, peo­ples, including those currently occupying the space known today as Nigeria, who are faced with seri­ous challenges, naturally devise ways of mastering them. Yet, Ni­geria continues to groan under the weight of multifarious prob­lems that are, in truth, not intrac­table. Of course, there are prob­lems and there are those of them that are unquestionably knotty, including the task of building am­ity and unity between disparate peoples lumped together by the invasion of trans-Atlantic greed. When, in such a setting, it seems like the signs of enduring con­cord are in the offing, local greed – the insidious variety planted and nurtured by the trans-Atlan­tic original – rises and wipes away every vestige of hope. That is un­derstandable.

When, however, the problem has to do with fuel shortages, or the acute shortages of other goods and services, there is a fundamental reason why things permanently bad – to the cha­grin, utter pain and peril of Nige­rian peoples. Take the perennial shortages of petroleum products – gas, kerosene and petrol – in the country. These items are not scarce because they are not obtainable. They are invariably scarce because those employed to guarantee their availability have, through time, either shirked their responsibility or failed to under­stand what that responsibility entails.

This disgraceful situation criti­cally questions the nature of the essence of Nigerian peoples. It indicts Nigeria. Despite being the biggest oil nation in Africa, it remains the only one on the continent in which the discord­ant woes of fuel scarcity are regularly emitted. It is shameful that the mournful riff of lack of fuel, and the sorry sight of end­less queues at gas stations are Nigerians trademarks. Non-oil producing countries, including those in the Sahel region, hardly ever experience fuel shortages. But it is the lamentable lot of Ni­geria. Countries engaged in wars or afflicted by other tribulations manage somehow to meet their fuel demands. But not Nigeria, a country said to be benefitting from “relative” peace.

The reasons behind this blight are all too obvious. Corruption is one of them, as are ineptitude and negligence. So, the peoples suffer. The peoples suffer because of the long queues in the blistering heat of everyday. The peoples suffer because of the contrived delays by those operating the distribu­tion channels and the fuel sta­tions. The peoples suffer because artificial scarcities hike pump prices, which automatically im­pact negatively on prices and the availability of other goods and services. Without fuel there can­not be locomotion. Without this essential product, there cannot be power in homes and hospitals and factories; without fuel, what remain are jaded peoples.

A important question here. Most other countries don’t suffer the incessant fuel scarcities that are the changeless curse on Ni­geria. If Nigerian officials – from top to bottom – are famous for anything, it is their penchant for globetrotting. The question, then, is this: are these peripatetic func­tionaries irreversibly unwilling and/or unable to learn from those countries that permanently sit pretty over and above the plague of fuel scarcity? If they ever learn anything from their junketing, is it beyond reason to wonder why they never implement in this country the good things they ob­serve in their interminable trav­els?

There’s a chance that the grave security implications of constant fuel scarcities do not register in the appropriate quarters. An army could have all the arsenals in the world, and all the motivation that is possible. But, without fuel, ma­neuverability will be hampered. Without fuel, warriors would be­come sitting ducks awaiting im­minent capture, followed by exile – assuming the victors repudiate participation in the rising trend of the mass decapitation of cap­tives! But the prospect of war may yet be held in abeyance while the talk concentrates on peacetime imperatives.

In times of peace, plenty is an assumed corollary. The assump­tion is of the constant availability of fuel in a country blessed with an abundance of the black gold. There are two ways of instituting and sustaining this availability. The one is long term, the other short term. Talking about long term measures, what come to mind include pipelines for mov­ing the products laid so deep un­derground as to thwart even the improvisations of oil thieves, and over-ground transportation of petroleum products by rail, which is far safer and more efficient that the anachronism of tanker driv­ers. Any visionary government will draw up a blueprint for these, and implement them.

The short-term measures must start with storage. Each time an industrial action afflicts the oil sector, the shortage of petroleum products is instantaneous. But, days and, sometimes weeks, after the strike is called off, the scar­city persists. A serious country will have fuel supplies across its length and breadth to last for at least two months in the case of strikes or other emergences im­pinging on production. In Nige­ria, it is the case that refined fuel imported any week is consumed the following week; if importa­tion of what after all can easily be refined in Nigeria is not carried out in a week, scarcity gallops in the streets for the next four weeks! This is soul-destroying.

There are six geopolitical zones in the country. It is not rocket science to build gargan­tuan storage facilities in each of these zones. It is not a long-term project, either. For instance, a safe, underground storage facil­ity large enough to meet the fuel needs of any major Nigerian city through one month can be con­structed in six months sharp. Why cannot Nigeria have such facilities in each state of the coun­try?

Then, there is the problem of the petrol stations. When NNPC mega stations first appeared, their operations were above board. Corruption changed all that. But the slide is easily reversible. Fur­ther, the number of mega stations in any town could easily be quad­rupled. This does not necessarily require the construction of new outlets. The NNPC is known to arrange takeovers of independent stations. It is a fact that wherever NNPC stations are, hoarding by private fuel merchants is dras­tically reduced. Why not stem the corruption of mega stations’ workers? Why not wipe off the scandal of an NNPC station of 20 pumps, of which 19 are inoper­able? Why not ensure that deliv­ery of fuel to NNPC stations takes precedence over supplies to inde­pendent hoarders and profiteers?

What, really, is impossible in making fuel available to Nige­rians? Whenever the anti-cor­ruption din escalates, it creates the impression that the blight is only in the ranks of disfavoured politicians. Aren’t they corrupt who shut fuel stations to elongate queues and thereby exact bribes from hapless motorists before selling them petrol? The thing tire me o.

(My younger brother, Charles, a veteran of the oil industry, read the draft of this piece and offered his personal insight. He said fuel scarcity would be dealt a severe blow if defunct storage facilities were repaired. He cited Enugu, Benin City, Kano and other cities as hosting storage facilities since dilapidated, and alleged endemic corruption among NNPC staff­ers, who thwart corrective inspec­tions by forewarning accomplices in outstations. Again, the thing tire me o.)

*Mr. Chuks Iloegbunam, an eminent essayist, journalist and author of several books, writes column on the back page of The Authority newspaper every Tuesday. (Email: iloegbunam@hotmail.com)