A Christmas bonanza

On December 26th, a fire ripped through the crowded Abule – Egba area of Lagos. Hundreds of people burned to death, as they desperately scooped buckets of petrol gushing from a vandalised pipeline that ran through the city.

Firstly, forgive me for this basic lesson in economics. In line with economic theory, as the demand for fuel rose (millions of people on the move) and without a corresponding rise in supply, the price of fuel rose appreciably. Normally, petrol retails for 60 Naira per litre, in certain parts of Nigeria the price rose to over 110 Naira per litre in this period. As traffic flows were crippled in Lagos and petrol was scarce, a ruptured pipeline was a prospective bonanza.

In press reports, a local resident expressed his feelings, ‘if we don’t scoop fuel from here, hunger will kill us. If we die from explosion here, it is still death out of want. We might as well stay here, scoop and hope to survive’. In the maelstrom of an impending catastrophe, many worried residents tried to explain the dangers to those caught in the fuel frenzy. Hundreds of people carried on, ignoring the potentiality of disaster. One spark later, death and destruction engulfed the area.

Nigeria is moving on from this disaster and lurching conceivably to the next. Over 2000 people have died in Nigeria in similar incidents in the past few years. One cannot absolve people from personal responsibility for their actions. As people, we have duties and responsibilities, make choices and live with the consequences. This level of personal responsibility is balanced by the duties of the state to provide for the needs of its people. This is a basic interpretation of a ‘social contract’ that binds citizens to their state.

So what of the Government response to this disaster? The President acknowledged the scale of the tragedy in the following way ‘As the nation mourns the many victims of this very unfortunate incident at Abule – Egba (Lagos – my words), the President wishes to restate that we can avoid a recurrence of such disasters in future if all persons engaged in the immensely hazardous and illegal business of pipeline vandalization take up legitimate employment elsewhere’.


The vandalization of pipelines is a lucrative business for some, organized gangs rupture pipelines and fill tankers full of petrol for sale on the black market or elsewhere. Vested interests are against a properly functioning pipeline distribution system. Countless petrol tankers trawl through Nigeria making poor roads even more dangerous. Addressing the poverty of the masses as well as the illegality of the few are key challenges for Nigeria.