Today, I found myself asking one of the questions that undermines my personal paradigm of ownership. I asked the question, “whose fault is this, or who is to blame?” While this is a question that helps to understand the root cause of a problem, it’s also the first step in the blame game. Thinking that the problem originated from someone else, or by thinking we can make someone else responsible for the mishaps in our lives, we become irresponsible. We can trace the root of every problem back to ourselves. This might seem like being to hard on ourselves, but check it, you can’t change the world, but you can surely change yourself, and if you find an equation where changing yourself changes the world, then you have found a way to change the world. It’s like the lever principle; if the fulcrum is in the center and the weigh at the end, then the same amount of force needs to be exerted to raise the weight. The farther away the force applied is from the fulcrum, the lesser the force required to lift the weight. No wonder a scientist once said, “give me a place to stand, and I will move the world.” Focusing on ourselves and the things we can change within ourselves we can change the world.
In case you are wondering the circumstance that warranted this question, it was the explosion arising from the vandalized pipeline at Abule-egba. As of today the death toll is said to be over 700! While we decry plane crashes, this is equivalent to 4 -5 local aircrafts crashing in one breath! I don’t foresee as much “ceremony” about this as would have ensued if it was a plane crash. This is also not the second time this year alone, in fact this has happened earlier this month as well. I spoke with someone today, who told me about someone he knew who lost 6(all) of his children (boys) in that explosion. Fuel scarcity had resulted in unending queues in filling stations, the creation of black markets and the proliferation of fuel scarcity opportunists. From the information I gathered, two fuel tankers loaded fuel from this vandalized site earlier and left, it was after these that neigbhourhood boys discovered cash on the streets behind their houses. They rushed there with their jerrycans, buckets, drums and whatever they had to capture the free flowing fuel. They dived in with the same philosophy that makes their politically privileged uncles plunge into the national cake, “maximize the moment!”, “this is your turn”, “opportunity missed, can never be regained” and so on. As good samaritans, they picked up their mobile phones to call their friends, “It’s happening here oh, remove yourself from the endless and reasonless queues, don’t waste your time, there is free fuel here”. Maybe it was the combination of mobile activity and petrol, maybe two metal buckets collided, maybe someone needed a candle to see clearly, maybe someone left his/her cigarette on, maybe… Whatever it was, the people who lived to tell the story were not close enough to see the story unfold. Lives were wasted, stories ended, futures aborted. Human beings roasted for hours before help approached. Dec 26, 2006, all the major accidents in the year added together, in one blast! 4 days to the end of the year, and they are gone with the year. Who is to blame?
1. Who allocated residential quarters to an area where pipelines were buried? Or who built unguided pipelines where human beings lived?
2. Who is responsible for immediate response to fire accidents? Can everybody merely parade the location and share their condolensces? Where are the people who cried that the minister of aviation be removed, does this not warrant someone’s head?
3 What is the cause of the fuel scarcity? Is NNPC telling us all the truth as it is?
4. Who owns the tankers that lifted fuel from this vandalized pipeline at midnight? How were they able to lift fuel? Is it true that they need informats from NNPC to know when to time their operation?
5. Who is responsible for ensuring that people are educated enough and don’t suffer from so acute poverty mentality, that they are willing to jump at anything free? Where they looking for free fuel for themselves or business opportunities?
6. Who is responsible for instilling the right values of integrity, candor, truth, honesty, discipline, character e.t.c. into the ideologies of our youth? Where there some people who declined the invitation to go and take fuel from a vandalized pipeline because they thought it was immoral? Or was it everyone around that saw it as a means for getting back at the big bad government?
7. Who is responsible for ensuring proper education for our people, so that they know that petrol is inflamable, and has fumes that can cause explosions at the slightest spark? Who?
8. Who was responsible for endangering the individual lives of the victims of this fuel crash? Who carried them there, or who put a gun to their head and insist that the must move towards the fuel?
I don’t know about you, but I can see a few places where my name features. We are all architects of our collective destinies. Lets stop the blame game, and focus on fixing our part of the puzzle. Let’s have an ownership paradigm. I am responsible for instilling values, I am responsible for proper education, I am responsible educating the poverty striken mental frame. Are you responsible?
14 thoughts on “Ownership Paradigm”
Proactive.
this is a serious tragedy.even every one has a role to play,nevertheless someone must act fast to prevent reoccurence. but who? NNPC? THE POLICE? CIVIL DEFENCE? OR THE RESIDENTS OF THE AREA? may the soul of the dead rest in peace.
I dont even know what to say. It’s extremely sad that human lives should be wasted regularly like this when avoidance is as easy as easy can be.
You know recently, infact the very day of the blast, I was in a bus and looking outside the window guess what I saw? A guy smoking just beside a black market kiosk! I thought I had seen the worst until I got into another bus. I was perceiving fuel and I looked only to see that they actually placed a pipe in a jerrycan in the boot and that served as the fuel tank! A lot of things raced through my mind as to our safety but I just had to pour my fears on God.
Like you’ve rightly said, we all have a part to play. And ofcourse, sitting down and feeling deeply pained will never heal the wound.
Deolu, merry christmas. i was a bit concerned about this yesterday that i blogged about it.This is a reflection that someone, somewhere is not thinking. it is a reflection of our societal lazy mental faculty. my major concerns here is that blood of innocent victims would have been shed for nothing.
There would be some people just sleeping in their houses who would have been roasted. we can only pray that someone will wake up into reality and ensure proper planning.God helps us all.
The situation is very pathetic.I woke up early on tueday hearing repeated announcement on LTV and Ait that the law enforcement agents should go and cordon off the site of the vandalization.I was on my way out when the incident occured.I s people in agony.
Few questions come to mind:
1.What would hve happened if the police ha been there earlier
2.Why are people so gullible cos of money,some beleived it is the share of their national cake.
3.Who will enlighten people about the dangers involved in these activities..I learnt of an ols womanb in the same area who fries bean cake on gs pipppppeline!
It is very touching.
Ikenna, apt!
Olaito, can we really say they were innocent?
Its a pity that this has to happen once again!
We are in a country where we (as individuals & a corporate body) don’t learn lessons from the past. This is not the first time that this sort of event would occur. Of course, we would all go through the same gamut of condolences, blame game, setting up of panels etc and life returns to normal until the next “BIG BLAST”! We are all GUILTY as citizens of this country. From individuals who would brazenly vandalize pipelines and fill up their tankers, to others who would for one reason or the other rush in spite of the obvious danger to fill their buckets & jerry cans, to the government for poor planning, no security, poverty, fuel scarcity, no emergency response, poor public enlightenment etc
Yes, we are all responsible for this disaster but we all need to start living up to our responsibilities as individuals and a nation. We shall get there – one day.
it’s a bad taste for this festive season (not good at any time though). This further exposes the unimaginable level of poverty that pervades our country amidst more than enough meant for every one… For us still alive a lesson should be learnt here – every action is either black (evil) or white (good) there is no such thing as grey… each has it’s obvious long-time or short-time reward…it’s just a function of time.
We are all to blame as you rightly said.It is our principal responsibility to do our best to evolve the Nigeria of our dream everywhere we find ourselves
Someone said that those guys were theives…hmmm…. someone also said that most people are theives, but it is the person that gets caught that is barawo?
I think people find it easy to switch of their values when they see opportunities, this is bad! I also think people loose a sense of what is proper when they have done rubbish for ages, like for example, nobody should have petrol at home, but don’t we all?
Taking responsibility appears to be so hard around these parts, and I wonder if it has anything to do with our race? Even accepting responsibility for self can be so hard. We seem to tkae a lot of unnecessary risks, and II’m still pondering on this….
its really tragic. very sad that lives were lost. many course of our problems in a continent such as this is poverty. this has eaten deep into many that they cannot think straight anymore. a popular sayings goes thus”such cut will cut your life short”. that is exactly what happened.
come to think of it, if this guys who were fried with the fire were well to do i.e they were okay in terms of living condition, do you think they would have gone to scoop fuel?it is well.
“I think people find it easy to switch of their values when they see opportunities, this is bad! ”
Though this happened a long time ago, it still hit hard, like rock.
I really don’t know what to say.
We are all responsible one way or the other to create positive orientation about life, teach positive orientation and help others to get the orientation.
To have an healthier society, we need to shift our focus to developing positive orientations about life.
Oga sir, once again thank you.
so many questions…..
a responsible man is not just a man that can provide for his needs but a man that accepts liabilities for his actions. Nigeria is responsible for the lives lost, our leaders are responsilbe, our parents are responsible, I am responsible, You are responsible, WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE! together we can take Nigeria to the zenith of wealth and independence on free but costly things that claim lives.
I have a part to play just as you also have a part to play. as long as man is concerned we owe our dear nation a collective responsibility to educate ourselves on the these issues.
i trust NNC to stand up to these issues raised, i trust you reading this piece to take it up as a responsilbility to educate every body that comes your way.
If every parent will take it up as a core responsibility to educate their children on core values as a family and their role in nation building, NIGERIA WILL BE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN THE YEARS TO COME!