Will Nigeria learn pipeline fire lessons?

By Dan Isaacs
BBC News, Amiyi-Uhu, Abia State

The disaster illustrates some of the most pressing problems faced by citizens of one of the world's major oil producers - poverty, insecurity and a lack of accountability.

Nobody is accepting responsibility for the tragedy

Over 120 villagers are now known to have died when a fire erupted around a leaking fuel pipeline in the village of Amiyi-Uhu.

Despite the risks, hundreds of people waded through a river of highly flammable fuel with buckets and jerry cans.

"There is too much hunger, there is too much unemployment" says Bernard Orji, an extremely angry local politician who visited the scene.

"Young boys and young girls died here. If you look around you can see slippers and shoes that belong to kids. It can give you an idea of the kind of people that came here. It is an index of the poverty level in this community."

Decline

And it provides a stark image of the inequality and poverty that is widespread in a country where successive governments have conspicuously failed to invest the billions of dollars earned from oil over the decades, back into developing the nation's potential.

NIGERIA DISASTER TIMELINE 1998 - 1,000 killed in pipeline blast in Warri July 2000 - 300 killed in pipeline explosion near Warri January 2002 - 120 killed in an explosion at Ikeja military base, Lagos May 2002 - 120 killed in a plane crash in Kano February 2003 - 50 killed in an explosion that destroyed a Lagos building

The industrial and agricultural sectors, so crucial for generating jobs and economic growth, have been allowed to wither and decline over the decades to their currently deplorable levels, whilst oil revenues have made those with access to power fabulously rich.

And a gross lack of investment in the country's education system, has meant that those young men and women, wanting desperately to better themselves and their communities, find it almost impossible to do so.

Schools, colleges and universities, once the pride of the nation, are in decay and disrepair and frustrated academic staff all too frequently resort to long periods of strike action in search of better pay and conditions.

Warning

Although the pipeline was probably ruptured initially by thieves, petrol had been allowed to flow freely for more than two weeks, and locals had come to the area in their hundreds to scoop up the fuel.

It shows the disregard for human life Bernard Orji

When a stray spark from a motorbike ignited it, the resulting high loss of life was inevitable.

What remains unclear following this disaster is how it could have been allowed to happen.

Local elders had warned the authorities of the extreme danger of the situation, but nothing had been done to turn off the flow of petrol down a pipeline from the oil refineries at Port Harcourt to the eastern city of Enugu.

The state-owned company responsible for the line, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it had not been aware of the leak until after the fire erupted on the evening of 19 June.

Security is only now being stepped up

This is strongly disputed by people in the area who say the police and the relevant officials all knew what was going on, and that nothing had been done to take control of the situation until it was too late.

"It had been leaking for the past few weeks," says Mr Orji.

"Somebody should have shut down the line, but nobody did. The police knew, the local authorities here knew. It shows the disregard for human life and that they don't give a damn about it".

Responsibility

An NNPC spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu, told the BBC that the disaster was the fault of vandals breaching the pipe, and that the local villagers were to blame for what had happened.

He also strongly rejected the death toll figures of more than 100 given both by eye-witnesses and the Red Cross, saying that no more than 10 people had died.

No one, it seems, is prepared to take responsibility for this terrible disaster that could so easily have been avoided.

And if the experience of similar pipeline fires is anything to go by, even if there is an investigation, there will be no reprimands or prosecutions.

And it is clear that unless lessons are learnt from this latest tragedy it is bound to happen again somewhere else.

If an oil company can continue to run fuel through a pipeline, unaware that it has been flowing out freely into the countryside for many weeks, then something very serious must be wrong not only with the safety mechanisms in place, but also the monitoring of complaints at the local level.

And if it proves to be the case that the police and local authorities all knew about the major breach of the pipeline, why on earth did not the NNPC?

The families of those who died in this fire deserve answers to all these questions, and for those responsible to be held accountable.

But in all probability that will never happen.

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This debate is now closed.

For a selection of your comments please read below.

Ironically, oil producing areas are poorer than most other areas yet they produce so much wealth for the country. Hence it should be no surprise that poor people, whose land is so rich, should feel cheated and behave in such manner. A portion of the oil money should be used to improve conditions in producing areas, and then we'll probably see a change in the peoples behaviour.
Ebai Mengot, UK

The fact that people are willing to risk their lives for a few dollars is an indication of the ever-increasing depths that Nigeria has sank to.
Emeka, USA

I find it very hard to believe that NNPC had no indication that there was a leak in the pipeline weeks after it had occurred. Pipeline operators are normally alerted to a possible leak within hours due to a pressure loss in the pipeline.
JC, Scotland

It should be no surprise that poor people, whose land is so rich, should feel cheated and behave in such manner. A portion of the oil money should be used to improve conditions in producing areas, and then we'll probably see a change in the peoples behaviour.
Ebai Mengot, UK

The blame for this disaster should go two ways: the oil firm for maintaining a policy that terms a spilliage as "minor leakage" and the victims who should have learnt from past pipeline explosions.
odili chukujekwe, Nigeria

Now its time to apportion blame and I do not hesitate to blame stubborn and illiterate villagers who refuse to accept that rupturing oil pipelines is illegal, unpatriotic and deadly. But will poor Nigerians learn from this recent disaster? I do not think so.
Cyril Jengo, Sierra Leone

There should be constant air and land surveillance of pipelines. The pipes should also be buried some six feet below the surface.
S>K>Yembra, Nigeria

I think it is sad indeed to condemn these poor folk as thieves and greedy people. They are ignorant and poor. They did not allegedly puncture the pipeline themselves and are reported to have informed the authorities about the rupture. They waited in vain for several days even as the very scarce commodity was apparently wasting. What would you expect of these rural folk, then?
Azuka, Nigeria

The Nigerian government should establish a strong agency devoid of corruption to monitor the oil pipelines with the aim of proactively correcting and repairing faulty pipelines.
Nwala Innocent, Nigeria

I would rather dwell on what should be done to prevent another disaster. But this is definitely an exercise in futility because Nigeria is a nation without leaders and without a soul. Tell me; how can the elite group of a nation who own some of the best palaces overseas and have all their children studying overseas care about what happens to the mere mortals they have lived all their recycled lives impoverishing?
Ernest Opara, Nigeria

I agree hole heartedly with what Bernard Orji. The people who died are not to blame. Petroleum is a valuable resource and if I lived in squalor all of my life and was presented with such a bounty, I would have gone right into the danger zone. The people that should be held responsible are the managers of the pipeline. If there is a person that knew about the leak and did nothing about it, that is the person at fault. This disaster was avoidable, we should not let it happen again.
Greg, Mass. USA

We have done it again. More deaths, more probes, more recommendations and everything dies down. The cycle of irresponsible leadership continues. Julius
julius adeola, Nigeria

The day a son or daughter of a prominent Nigerian will be involved then something will be done. For now, as long as the victims are ordinary Nigerians, the deaths are of no consequence. When beggars die, no comets are sighted
Peter Anyandu, NIGERIA

The oil companies need to pay a good percentage of all earnings to villagers in the form of ground rent to improve their standard of living.
Azeezat, UK

Nigerians are facing genocide from their rulers.
Mela Isaac,, Port Harcourt , Nigeria.

The Nigerian Government is yet to get her act together. Unless issues of good leadership and proper administration are tackled, more and more of this kind of sad events will take place. God save the Nation!
Sehubo Akinyanmi, UK

Knowing Nigeria, I would not be surprised if in response, the government sent a team of senators, legislators and top government officials on an overseas trip to 'learn how to prevent' such disasters in the future. Afterwards? 'Case closed'.
Dr Owoicho Okpe, Manchester, UK