There goes again another fuel blast,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6209845.stm

Another result of OBJ reforms, in a country with $40billion external reserve, citizen still scooping fuel from pipeline

IT'S SAD.
YOU JUST WONDER WHETHER IT'S BREAKING NEWS OR DE JAVU ALL OVER AGAIN.

@All,
Well, it's quite unfortunate and my prayers are with the families affected. But with an estimated 70% of the population living below the poverty line; unemployment among the economically viable age-group estimated at >60%; and a general abysmally poor human development index, wealth distribution, national planning etc etc, news like this will continue breaking from Nigeria. It's sad but unavoidable. So much for the Heart of Africa project.

Terrible over 200 persons are reported dead at the moment, Another great reform of PDP

Sad but again, one must ask; why would anyone for whatsoever reasons engage in a potentially fatal venture like scooping fuel from a ruptured or vandalised pipeline given the fact that Nigeria had witnessed similar scenarios that ended in fatalities in the past?

While we sympathize with the victims it is equally important for Nigerians to avoid acts that could end their lives in the most terrible ways as dead men don't dream neither do they hope for a better tomorrow.

We must learn to accept responsibility of our actions whether right or wrong, the blame game may be convenient for some but it certainly isn't the best or most effective.

if the government had provided fuel knowing fully well that its a festive peroid no body will foolishly go and scoop any petroleum pipeline, but because the people were pushed to the wall they had to do what they did ,though it turned out to be ugly, i refuse to blame the peoplethat scooped the pipeline i blame the useless good for nothing government that foolish allowed fuel to be a scarce at this festive period of the year.

mazaje:

if the government had provided fuel knowing fully well that its a festive peroid no body will foolishly go and scoop any petroleum pipeline, but because the people were pushed to the wall they had to do what they did ,though it turned out to be ugly, i refuse to blame the peoplethat scooped the pipeline i blame the useless good for nothing government that foolish allowed fuel to be a scarce at this festive period of the year.

Could you please answer the following question honestly?

Will you scoop fuel from a vandalised or ruptured pipeline for any reasons knowing what you know today about the dangers inherent in such activities?

If your answer is in the negative then I wonder what purpose you want to achieve with your position that has refused to apportion blame appropriately.

Afam:

Could you please answer the following question honestly?

Will you scoop fuel from a vandalised or ruptured pipeline for any reasons knowing what you know today about the dangers inherent in such activities?

If your answer is in the negative then I wonder what purpose you want to achieve with your position that has refused to apportion blame appropriately.

yes i will because we all only think such things happen to the others.
people tap lines everyday.

@mamaput,

Sound advice: Never go near a ruptured pipeline.

Question: Weren't innocent people affected by the blasts as well? I believe the blast took place in a dense population area. Some reports actually gave a head count of over 700 and still counting dead. May God help us in that country.

Afam:

Could you please answer the following question honestly?

Will you scoop fuel from a vandalised or ruptured pipeline for any reasons knowing what you know today about the dangers inherent in such activities?

If your answer is in the negative then I wonder what purpose you want to achieve with your position that has refused to apportion blame appropriately.

I do not think it is my place to make judgment on the situation in Nigeria,  as i am not Nigerian. However if i was in that  position and i needed fuel for my family, i would risk it.
the situation is very sad  indeed.

mazaje:

if the government had provided fuel knowing fully well that its a festive period no body will foolishly go and scoop any petroleum pipeline, but because the people were pushed to the wall they had to do what they did ,though it turned out to be ugly, i refuse to blame the peoplethat scooped the pipeline i blame the useless good for nothing government that foolish allowed fuel to be a scarce at this festive period of the year.

erm there was fuel before the festive period!

If people don't vandalize the pipelines, there might not be fuel shortages during the festive period, why would the government deliberately create shortages, i don't get the way people think sometimes.

This country sef

CoCo as you dont know

the people scooping the fuel were not those that actually needed it, they were people looking to make huge profits
If you really need fuel you wont crack a huge pipeling that has explosive fuel travelling to the stations to be distributed to you

hmm maybe you thinking like us now, good for you

TayoD if you were poor and living in such an area.
Are you telling me you will go and buy.
We know its something that should not been done , but thats Nigeria.
In my schooldays we used to break open old battries because the inside was good to blacken the blackboard.We used to play with asbestos,Okey not as bad as the pipelines.
But if we were there we will be doing it. Because everyobe is doing it.
I may not break one, But i would have followed other people to tap

LoverBwoy:

CoCo as you don't know

the people scooping the fuel were not those that actually needed it, they were people looking to make huge profits
If you really need fuel you wont crack a huge pipeling that has explosive fuel travelling to the stations to be distributed to you

hmm maybe you thinking like us now, good for you

so you are saying, dishonest corrupt groups are breaking the pipelines to line their own pockets. All 500 of them   

Some petti traders to sell it at the roadside, some follow ,follow for their own use(then its for free) ofcause many that did not even know what is going on.(as in the wrong place at the wrong time)

Obviously not all of them, you dont need petrol to cook! you use kerosine,
you wont break or scoop petrol/crude just becuase you want to drive somewhere
there are thousand queuing at the petrol station are all those people stupid?

People breaking pipeling just because they are desperate for money are
endangering the lives of those that are passing by or living in the area
They're actually making peoples life more miserable, they'll now be more fuel shortage,
no generators for hospital and clinics, fuel will be stupidly expensive for the ordinary citizens

coco will you actually break a pipeline just because you want to cook or drive somewhere?
just to fix a blocked sink you will call a plumber talkless of a huge pipe with explosives!

LoverBwoy:

Obviously not all of them, you don't need petrol to cook! you use kerosine,
you wont break or scoop petrol/crude just becuase you want to drive somewhere
there are thousand queuing at the petrol station are all those people stupid?

People breaking pipeling just because they are desperate for money are
endangering the lives of those that are passing by or living in the area
They're actually making peoples life more miserable, they'll now be more fuel shortage,
no generators for hospital and clinics, fuel will be stupidly expensive for the ordinary citizens

coco will you actually break a pipeline just because you want to cook or drive somewhere?
just to fix a blocked sink you will call a plumber talkless of a huge pipe with explosives!

I grew up using wood to cook and bake so i would not brake a pipline if that is all i needed it for, however if there were free fuel and it would make life easier for me and my family, sweetie i would risk it, not being greedy to full ten barrel just enough and i would be out of there.

poverty make honest people do dishonest things.

Coco29:

poverty make honest people do dishonest things.

should i challenge this absurd statement? Naaaaw she's Caribbean.
however because i highlighted it, i hope she recognise the flaw in logic.

Not good enough @ coco

But its the truth what she said.
Were we not all doing dishonest things

LoverBwoy:

Not good enough @ coco

explain !!!!

jammin:

should i challenge this absurd statement? Naaaaw she's Caribbean.
however because i highlighted it, i hope she recognise the flaw in logic.

what flaw?

, as the axiom in the holy writ says, .our people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, or is it money or gas[as being witnessed!!!],
Why would supposedly intelligent creatures go to sites of burst pipe-lines with metallic materials which on contact can actually spark off fire!!, and knowing the government officials, quite lackadasical to  previous warning signals, now its sorrow time at xmas time in uncertain times , Giant of africa indeed, in terms of sloppiness, minnows indeed in  terms of excellence and perfection, What a shame , xmas gone awry, God bless their soul, Amen

in other parts of the world the pipelines are underground

mamaput:

in other parts of the world the pipelines are underground

i rest my case

mamaput
The things you were doing in those days were not becuase you wanted to feed anybody
no other persons life was at risk

mamaput:

in other parts of the world the pipelines are underground

Actually, the BP pipelines in canada/alaska* that were closed earlier this year werent underground, the pipeline being built from uzbekistan/kazakstan or somewhere in the that region through turkey isnt underground

We should ask ourselves why they are not underground.
The things we were doing sometimes our teachers sent us were a hazard to our health.
I do not think in this day i will watch my kids break open a battery.
Do not forget there is also the silent death.

i love my nigeria, something new, usually bad, every other day,
just when an adhoc committee sitting on one breaking news is about to submit it's report, something entirely new happens.

soon a new panel of enquiry, soon life returns to normal for most of us but not the affected ones, soon the victims will become villains as they are arrested for trying to survive this nigeria,

where is frank, my frank information maestro, who will listen to him now? the international newswires are awash with this story, what will he say, who will he blame now? ATIKU?

where is soludo, the foreign reserve guru? rumour has it this fuel scarcity started because the FG was owing the oil majors 18billion naira (140 million dollars), now the if game will start, if, if, if only they had paid, how much is a nigerian life worth?

do the maths, 10 liters of fuel = 2500 naira today(black market price)  10 liters of fuel = 650 naira two weeks ago(fuel pump price). a man retrenched from the nitel, npa or any other gov agency without gratuity calculates how much  food he can provide his family by scooping  only 100 liters (25 000 naira), what would you di if you were in his shoes? life is risk, no risk no success or what the hell!!!!!

finally, check out this term>>TACHYPHYLAXIS, medical term which describes a gradual attenuation of the effects produced by a drug following repeated exposures to that drug, compare that term to the nigerian situation now, my warri people will say, WE DON SEE SOTEY NOTHING FIT SHAKE US AGAIN, God bless and deliver us from us.

yes there are obvious health hazards, but you werent doing them as a result of poverty or the need to feed your family
As Alarinka quoted our people are destroyed for lack of knowledge

I do not think in this day i will watch my kids break open a battery.

And i do not think in this day and age people will still be breaking/tapping pipelines especially after thousands of people have lost their lives in the past few years!

you have a point.
At the end of the day its greed.
But lets ask ourselves how far from harmless "Tapping of pen" we would have gone if our people were poor as in POOR

Isn't it an irony that while people are scooping fuel in lagos, we in Port Harcourt are forced to stay indoors cause there is no fuel.b

Sorry oo!

That's Nigeria for u.

There is no rest for the wicked.