Our society is step by step dropping the power to tell apart between hazard and alternative. What ought to ordinarily make us run for our lives has, sadly, change into a chance for some individuals to danger every little thing in pursuit of quick achieve. The tragic petrol tanker explosion and fireplace incident at Oluku Market, Benin City, Edo State, on October 15, 2026, is a painful reminder of this disturbing actuality.
The incident, reportedly triggered when a petroleum tanker fell close to the busy market, ought to compel us to mirror deeply on our perspective in the direction of security, human life and the determined wrestle for survival in our society. The query we should ask ourselves is that this: Why ought to a catastrophe change into a chance to some individuals?
When a petroleum tanker falls and its contents start to spill, the pure response must be to maneuver away from the scene as shortly as attainable. Yet, in our society right this moment, some individuals see such a harmful state of affairs as a chance to gather gas, ignoring the potential for an explosion that would price them their lives.
Should we name it ignorance, greed, desperation or a mixture of all three? Whatever the reason, the results could be devastating.
The painful reality is that we appear to have forgotten the teachings of earlier tragedies, together with the Jesse gas explosion in Delta State a few years in the past. Such incidents ought to have taught us that spilled petrol shouldn’t be a present, and a fallen tanker shouldn’t be a chance to change into rich. It is a critical hazard that calls for quick warning.
Unfortunately, the tough financial realities dealing with many Nigerians have made survival more and more tough. Poverty, unemployment and the rising price of residing have pushed many individuals into determined conditions. However, no financial hardship ought to make us gamble with our lives. What is the worth of accumulating a number of litres of gas if the value could possibly be one’s life?
Idris Rufai,
