The devastating petrol tanker explosion in Essa community, Katcha Local Government Area of Niger State, which tragically claimed 42 lives and left over 60 injured, has been squarely blamed on poor leadership at the grassroots.
The Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, described the avoidable tragedy as “frustrating” during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday. The incident occurred on Tuesday after a tanker overturned on the dilapidated Bida–Badeggi–Agaie Road and exploded as desperate residents attempted to scoop up the spilled fuel.
Issa-Onilu stated that despite a presidential directive for nationwide sensitisation following a similar explosion earlier this year in Dikko, Niger State, public awareness alone has failed to curb the risky behaviour.
“It’s very frustrating, but we saw it coming,” the DG remarked. “Our findings show that sensitisation alone won’t solve this problem. People are aware of the danger but ignore it. It’s the failure of leadership at the community level.”
The NOA boss was emphatic in condemning the act of fuel scooping, labelling it as both criminal and morally wrong. He stressed that the spilled petrol remains private property, and taking it amounts to theft and is prosecutable.
He lamented the decline in societal values, urging parents to question why their children would attempt to take what belongs to another. The DG concluded that the problem is “a whole-of-society issue tied to value orientation,” emphasizing that community members should be focused on helping the owner salvage the product, not exploiting the accident.
