By Igbotako Nowinta
“Oluku must awaken the conscience of the ruling class. A nation that allows economic desperation to flourish while neglecting essential emergency infrastructure is exposing its most vulnerable citizens to needless danger.”
How hungry must a people become to risk being burnt alive for a few litres of petrol? How desperate must survival become before death appears a gamble worth taking?
The horrifying tanker inferno at Oluku, along the Benin–Lagos Expressway in Edo State, is more than an accident. It is a painful indictment of a society where crushing poverty and economic desperation have turned survival into a dangerous gamble.
When the petrol tanker overturned and spilled its contents, some residents rushed to scoop fuel. The result was catastrophic: lives lost, people injured and properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
Behind the flames lies another national tragedy: a system in which poverty can push desperate citizens towards preventable death.
Scooping fuel from a fallen tanker is undeniably dangerous. But condemning the victims without confronting the hunger, unemployment and economic hardship that may have driven their actions is to treat the symptoms while ignoring the disease.
A government cannot continually ask its citizens to endure economic hardship without confronting the human consequences. Economic policies must be measured not merely by official statistics but by whether ordinary Nigerians can afford food, secure decent livelihoods and live with dignity.
Equally disturbing are the questions surrounding emergency preparedness. Were sufficient functional fire engines, firefighting equipment and trained personnel available? How quickly did emergency responders arrive, and could a better-equipped response have reduced the devastation?
These questions demand an independent investigation, not excuses.
Fire engines that cannot function when lives are at stake are more than administrative failures; they can become instruments of tragedy through inaction. Edo State and the relevant federal authorities must urgently assess emergency-response capacity, repair or replace faulty equipment and ensure that future disasters do not find the state helpless.
The victims and affected traders also deserve more than condolences. The injured need medical care, bereaved families need support, and those who lost their livelihoods deserve urgent assistance.
The poor are not disposable. Hunger must not become a death sentence, and government failure must not become the final chapter in the lives of ordinary citizens.
Oluku must awaken the conscience of the ruling class. A nation that allows economic desperation to flourish while neglecting essential emergency infrastructure is exposing its most vulnerable citizens to needless danger.
The ultimate test of leadership is not how eloquently officials mourn the dead, but how decisively they prevent future tragedies.
Let Oluku be a turning point—not another tragedy buried beneath official condolences, forgotten promises and the ashes of shattered lives.
Nowinta Igbotako, is a renowned human rights advocate, social critic, and Executive Director, Nigeria Good Governance Research Centre (NGGRC)
