It’s been a week since that tragic fire accident at Otedola Bridge. I recently read a press release from Lagos state government saying they are actively trying to find families of those burnt in the fire through DNA tests etc. Good, we need to know their names because human beings are not chickens.
Anyway I do not want to talk about the government or the fact that since the incident we are still seeing tankers in bad conditions conveying petroleum products along the same roads. A video of an NNPC tanker leaking fuel along the road surfaced over the weekend but that’s not what I am want to talk about today
Let us focus on we, the people.
So after the incident, it was reported that bus drivers began to charge N1,000 from Berger to OPIC, N1000. You can argue that it is business, that the drivers saw a huge demand for their services so their prices went up but where is our empathy? Human beings were burnt to death and your first concern was how can I profit from it?
I am sure some bus drivers were involved in the fire incident. If so, did the other bus drivers come together to form a union and demand that the owner of the tanker pay compensation to the family of their colleague? Or even if none of them died, I am also sure their buses got burnt, which means they’ve lost their means of livelihood. Now, is anyone helping them to demand that the government or the owner of the tanker replace their buses?
Nope, it’s every man for his pocket in this Lagos
Besides this, where is NUPENG, PENGASSAN and the NLC? These very vocal unions that are always in the papers threatening to strike over everything and anything, what have they said about the fire? Can they demand that owners of petroleum trucks use standard trucks to convey their products or else nobody will drive their trucks? Or the NLC? Nigerian workers died in that fire, have they said anything? We only hear their voices when it comes to politics and once a piece of the national cake is given to them their tongues suddenly become glued to their mouths. An example, a former NLC president who became governor who became Chairman of a change promising party.
But who is speaking for everyday Nigerians?
It is this ‘E nor concern me’ and ‘what’s my own inside?’ or ‘how e take affect my bank account’ attitude that will kill us all one after the other in this country.
However, see, Macron (President of a country that is still oppressing Francophone West Africa) is here, let us dance and celebrate African culture.