Jetty Fires And Oil Thieves

Hardly a day passes without reports of fire out breaks in Rivers State, and investigations impart
that most of these incidents are a result of stockpiling of contaminated petroleum products. This should be of presentiment to everyone. Apart from the fire imperilments that are experienced, the health overtone of what is being witnessed should unnerve persons residing and doing business in the state.
Lately, about seven people, including a pregnant woman, died in an early morning detonation at the Nembe-Bille-Bonny Jetty in Port Harcourt. The explosion snowballed into an inferno, wrecking over 50 fibre boats plying Nembe, Bonny or Bille routes. An eyewitness said the fire enkindled during the seepage of illegally refined petroleum products into another boat by artisanal oil refiners. This is not the first time. It happened last November at the same location.
The fire reportedly started in the early hours of the day and razed over 60 wooden boats and speedboats, with most of the victims badly scorched. The jetty, which serves as the harbour for travellers to the coastal areas of Nembe in Bayelsa State, the Island of Bonny, and Bille in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State, was reconstructed by the Governor Nyesom Wike’s administration and commissioned on January 9, 2021, amidst pomp and pageantry.
Last month, there was analogous fire outbreak at the Abonnema Wharf in Port Harcourt, effacing property worth millions of Naira. Inquiries revealed that the fire started as a result of stored adulterated petroleum products within illegal structures situated on the road. The timely mediation of firefighters helped to taper off the damage the fire could have caused. Following the occurrence, the Port Harcourt City Local Government Council Chairman, Allwell Ihunda, decided to dismantle all shanties at the wharf.
The Abonnema Wharf fire came less than a week after an inferno that ruined several trucks at an exhibit dump jointly owned by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the Iriebe community, along the Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway. Rivers people have to support the government with relevant information to checkmate the activities of illegal oil merchants disconcerting the state.
Recall that between November 20 and 23, 2021, Port Harcourt was enmeshed in an avalanche of fire outbreaks. The fire incidents, which came intermittently, left woes, agonies, bitterness, losses, and deaths. Sources privy to the unfortunate fire exigencies attributed them to the activities of illegal oil burglars. In October last year, the bunkering business claimed over 20 lives in Rumuekpe Community in Emohua Local Council.
Again, just last Saturday, April 23, 2022, over 100 persons were feared roasted to death at a location between Rivers and Imo States in an explosion directly linked to oil bunkering. Footage from the site flaunted roasted bodies lined up along disparate paths. This is not the first time in the oil region where appalling deaths have occurred in such horrible circumstances. It may not also be the last.
Port Harcourt residents have kept on counting their losses in these incidents, as property worth millions of Naira had been gutted. The upsurge in illicit petroleum business has exacerbated the airborne particulate called ‘soot’. Illegal oil businesses have been going on for years and have attained elevation in rural oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta as the people feel underestimated and abandoned.
Sadly, the criminal business thrives daily in the oil-rich city with ease as evidence shows that refined products are hauled within and around the state uninterrupted under the watchful eyes of security agents, believed to be in a symbiotic relationship with the vandals. Some military officers and the police are aware of the unlawful trade, but fail to act because they have been compromised. Allegedly, and shamefully, financial remittances are made every week to heads of security agencies.
There is a need for the Rivers State Government to collaborate with citizens and security operatives to end the activities of illegal refiners of crude oil, popularly known as “kpofire”, which has caused perpetual fire outbreaks and environmental pollution in the state. The media and civil society organisations should likewise engage in intrusive public campaigns to end the villainous activities.
A strategic stakeholders’ engagement in dealing with the menace is imperative, while surveillance task forces should be set up to diminish bunkering in the state. Last November, Wike claimed that the war against oil theft had continued to fail because top-ranking officers of the military were passionately involved in it. We agree no less with the governor and ask the Federal Government to quickly call its security agents to order.
Oil thieves must be vigorously confronted, not only because they undermine the national economy, but also for the good health of Rivers people. We commend Governor Wike for brandishing courage in declaring this war to protect the people he has sworn to govern. We equally laud security agents and some council chairmen who have shown staidness in the fight. They must not rest on their oars.
We urge the Federal Government to demonstrate more than a passing interest in illegal refining activities in the Niger Delta region. This must be done fastidiously, for if the situation is not effectively and cautiously managed, youths who are engaged in the illegal business might fight back. The banditry in Zamfara State started when the authorities adopted the wrong approach to dislodge ravenous youths from gold mining sites.
The predicament initially came under control when reason triumphed and the government decided to set up a committee to harmonise gold mining licences for the locals. The same approach adopted by the federal authorities in Zamfara State to allow the locals to benefit from their natural resources should be extended to Niger Delta youths through the establishment of modular refineries. This will deal with the proliferation of artisanal refineries and their attendant negative environmental impacts.