Majiya town in Jigawa State was the scene of tragedy on Wednesday when more than 140 people, including children, lost their lives in a devastating explosion. The victims had rushed to the scene of an accident involving an overturned fuel truck, trying to recover the fuel that was leaking from the vehicle.
The accident occurred at midnight when the driver lost control of his tanker truck on a highway. Emergency services report that residents, in a desperate quest to survive, rushed to collect the fuel, sparking a huge and tragic fire.
Emenike Okpaga, a Lagos-based civil servant, expressed frustration over the tragedy, pointing the finger at both the government and the people. “If the government made the safety and well-being of citizens its priority, such tragedies would not occur,” he said. He emphasizes that people, in the grip of famine, make desperate decisions without measuring the consequences.
Emmanuel Isaac, software engineer, also shared his concern. “No one in their right mind would travel to collect fuel if not out of hunger. The desperation is visible on the face of the average Nigerian,” he added. According to him, the community and the nation must act to put an end to this life of precariousness.
It is common for Nigerians to scavenge fuel after fuel tanker accidents, a practice exacerbated by soaring fuel prices, which have tripled since last year due to the removal of government subsidies. This urgent need for survival pushes people to take extreme risks.
