Lately, the rate at which fire incidents resulting from illegal oil refining, popularly known “kpo fire” refining, are being reported is alarming. The fire incidents have led to several deaths and destruction of properties worth millions of naira.
It is worrisome that the sad event occurs almost on a daily basis.  No week passes without a case of kpo fire explosion being mentioned in the society. These days, it is not only in the rural areas of the creeks, it is also happening in the urban areas that are heavily populated, due to storage of either kpo fire kerosene or petrol.
Despite heavy security checks and monitoring of those involved in the act of producing adulterated petroleum products, the menace has continued unabated. The rate of loss of lives and properties due to activities of illegal refineries has continued to increase despite all the surveillance mounted in various communities by community heads, community development committees (CDCs) and local vigilante groups whose responsibility is to safeguard oil installations in their domain.
Kpo fire or illegal refining does not just occur but is carried out by humans through illegal tampering of the oil pipelines by fraudsters. It is high time we looked into it by getting the relevant authorities to create more awareness. Government at all levels and all relevant agencies involved in crude oil production and refining should, as a matter of urgency, do something as it has caused a lot of harm in most communities.
About two months ago, it was reported that residents were concerned about the activities of illegal oil refineries which led to three separate fire outbreaks in different communities in a local government area. After a fire incident that occurred in Elele community, they were worried about the activities of artisanal crude oil refinery.
As the dry season approaches, it calls for concern because a little spark can lead to serious fire outbreak. Any lives lost can never be recovered. It was alleged that a case of fire outbreak that occurred at Omerelu and led to the death of a man was as a result of kpo fire. Residents of that area also alleged that those involved in the act convey the products in the open without fear of apprehension.
Those involved should be fished out because they are humans and are visible. A situation where such illegal business will be going on within a neighbourhood, while residents keep quiet calls for concern. Even when some of the residents are aware of the activities, they are afraid of victimisation at the end of the day.
Recently, it was also reported that a motorcycle carrying illegally refined products fell and spilled its content in Ubima community. That led to the razing of some buildings and properties worth millions of naira were lost to the inferno.
Eyewitness account revealed how in Omerelu community, a fire incident was recorded when a bus carrying adulterated petroleum products ran into a truck while trying to avoid security checks. It was also gathered that three occupants of the bus lost their lives to the fire and properties were also destroyed.
One problem associated with fire incidents in the rural areas is that of contacting Fire Service operators who are usually stationed in the city. One thing is to put a call across and another is the distance which may take a long time before arrival.
About a month ago, there was fire incident around Chokocho village in Etche Local Government Area. Although Fire Service from Mile 1 in Port Harcourt was contacted and they responded but properties worth millions of naira were already destroyed before their arrival. Their effort deserves commendation, though.
We are aware of the far distance between Isaac Boro Park Flyover in Port Harcourt and Chokocho. One amazing thing about that incident was that so many people in that neighborhood never knew what happened and even those who knew could not speak out.
It was also gathered that the fire outbreak was traceable to the activities of illegal oil refinery. The artisanal refinery was said to be owned and operated by a yet-to-be identified man who fled the area before the surveillance group got information about him. In fact, the man was accused of being behind the Chokocho incident. The head of task force on illegal bunkering activities who made inquiries about it discovered that the suspect left the area with his family before their arrival.
The issue of artisanal refinery has been on the increase in this part of the country and it is important that people are aware of the activities going on in their neighborhood as that will check the excesses of those who indulge in it. People should be able to identify their neighbours with their occupations.
Imagine a situation where security agents were not aware of such incidents until the members of the illegal bunkering taskforce got informed. There are speculations that law enforcement agents are involved and assisting perpetrators in indulging. It is high time the police defended themselves so that all eyes will not be on them. Lately, the Police had been doing great jobs. In fact, their relationship with the citizenry has been very cordial and anything that will tarnish the image of the Force should be avoided.
At the end of investigation, anyone found guilty of the offence should be arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others. This is because the harm resulting from illegal oil refinery and kpo fire is alarming. Sometimes, it is either adulterated petrol or kerosene stored in the houses that go up in flames when it comes in contact with fire. Petrol as inflammatory substance is supposed to be deposited at the petrol filling stations and not in the houses.
It is common these days to see heavy and thick smoke resulting from kpo fire around creeks in the environment. The smoke, experts say is dangerous to human health. How long will ‘yet-to-be-identified persons’ continue to perpetrate evil in the society?
Some persons have argued that it is better to gather all the people doing the illegal refining since they have become local petroleum engineers. Then the government should set up refinery and sell the crude to them to refine legally without doing kpo fire that is harming the environment. At the end of the day, they distribute to their customers in a better and legal manner. I think that is a welcome development as it will save the society from the menace.
The issue of illegal refining or kpo fire should be looked into by governments and oil producing companies in Nigeria.  Surveillance by both host communities where oil installations are sited and security agencies should be intensified so as to apprehend those whose stock-in-trade is to vandalise pipelines and cause loss of lives and properties.
Local Government chairmen and their councillors should ensure that those found in the act are punished according to the law. Community heads should communicate with the rural dwellers and more awareness created on the dangers of oil bunkering.

By: Eunice Choko-Kayode

It is important to recall that when God created Adam, he needed to make creation complete by creating Eve. He thus sowed the seed for procreation and for the population of human society. It became, obvious that no human society can be complete without the presence of male and female homosapien. God made all creatures male and female. This was intended to achieve harmony. Unfortunately, peace and harmony have eluded the human society because of violence. Violence has been explained as strength of emotion or of a destructive natural force.
More apt is the definition of violence as behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage or kill someone. Precisely, violence is about human behaviour which relates to emotional and physical force intended to hurt. The International Day for the elimination of violence against women was celebrated on the 25th day of November, 2021.
This global celebration is a wakeup call on the world population to remind them of the danger of gender based violence. In this case, women and the girl children are the victims of this absurdity. Indeed, any harm done to women and the girl children is harm against humanity. This fragile specie of the human society deserves to be protected because of their roles as mothers. Mothers nurture the present and the future of any society. It is therefore a thing of great global interest that the U. N. Body set aside 16 days of activism as part of this celebration to dig deep into the importance of protecting women and Girl children against all forms of abuse.
Records indicate that one out of three women has been abused at one time or the other. Indeed, 35 percent of women worldwide have been abused with respect to rape. The theme of this year’s celebration is Orange The World: End Violence Against Women Now!”
Orange in this concept is explained as a colour that represents a brighter future, free of violence against women and girl children.
Women and gender activists around the globe have remained awake and vociferous to raise the awareness that women around the world are objects of rape, domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence. Rape in particular is the most prevalent violent injury inflicted on women globally in India, UK, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States. In the United States, reports indicate that one out of six Americans has been raped or has been a victim of attempted rape.
“Rape is an unlawful act which involves sexual intercourse carried out by force and under threat of injury against a person’s will”. Research evidence across the globe indicates that reporting rape cases is a herculean task because many victims choose not to report as a result of the embarrassment associated with it and most importantly because of fear of reprisals.
Victims are most often threatened with serious repercussions if they reveal the encounter and the perpetrators of the act. Parents and adults, keep mute when their girl child is raped because of prejudices and attendant stigmatisation that may trail the victims. The conspiracy of silence is the greatest bane of the unfortunate pain the girl child suffers.
Defilement of underage girl child is the most unfortunate and demonic aspect of gender abuse. There are rampant reports about the adults and aged males forcing their genitals into the sex passage of infants. This absurdity further debases the human society and brings to question the moral authority of some persons who address themselves as fathers. Innocent children are victims of their depravity that sometimes have ritualistic intentions.
According to the Minister of Women Affairs in Nigeria, Mrs. Paulen Tallen, 30 percent of women and girls have experienced one form of sexual abuse or the otherin Nigeria. Women and girls between the ages of 14 and 49 years, experience different forms of sexual abuse.
Research reveals that 28 percent of Nigerians aged between 25 and 29 years of age have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 or below. Most of these revelations come up when the victims are liberated and free to speak out. Also 44 precent of divorced, separated or widowed persons have reported experiencing violence since early teens.
The case of married women in Nigeria and domestic violence is replete with tales of horror, pain and penury. 25 percent of married women experience violence which comes in different forms of abuses. Sadly, many married women die in silence struggling to keep their marriage because of societal stigma. Some swallow the abuses and pain for the sake of their children. In all, the girl children and women suffer sexual harassment, physical violence, harmful traditional practices, emotional and psychological violence.
The girl childen and women need to be rescued from this hell. They need sustained Advocacy and empowerment. The women need to be protected by the law through consistent and purposeful prosecutions of perpetrators of violence. Let parents speak out and let the girl children be taught to speak out too.
The female gender needs to be protected and given the confidence to shield themselves against sexual violence. The society, parents, law enforcement agencies, N. G. Os and the judiciary should rally forces together to protect the mothers of today and the future.

By: Bon Woke

A year ago, the activities of the MBA Forex Trading came to a halt after an alarm was allegedly raised by the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) warning its customers that money deposited with the company was not safe.
A few months to the closure of the company, there were speculations that customers might lose money deposited and at the end of the day, customers of MBA Forex Trading lost millions of naira to the operators. Recall the case of MMM money operators that left many Nigerians poorer all in a bid to make quick money a few years back.
Till now, many have not learnt any lesson from such incident as they are still patronising those who expect them to deposit little money and earn more than that at the end of the day. Many of those forex trading firms advertise their businesses through the media which makes the unsuspecting public believe they are engaged in genuine business.
Since the collapse of MBA last year, some persons who were affected had lost their lives due to the shock of losing their hard-earned money. There were protests in cities where the company had branches and it was also gathered that some aggrieved customers went to summon the chief executive officer of the forex trading firm to “juju”, the African way, to be able to recover their money. But with all the previous experiences and disappointments, people still go into such business.
Some persons have argued that one of the reasons why a lot of Nigerians still patronise those ponzi schemes is due to the attitude and conduct of some deposit money banks. Many commercial bank customers alleged that even when you are an account holder in those banks, one finds it difficult to have access to the money most times.
Beyond that, the allegation of money deposited in the banks not appreciating from month to month also poses problems to depositors. It calls for concern that a customer deposits money in a bank for a period of time without reasonable interest accruable to it.
Years ago, a lot of interests accrued to such deposits and this encouraged the depositors.  Nowadays, the rate of bank charges like SMS, stamp duties, alert just to mention but a few, make people look elsewhere to deposit money. Some view it as a venture to make money for the banks instead of encouraging depositors who feel that when they deposit N20,000 as savings in the bank, after one or two months, by the time the customer returns, such money remains the same or even reduces.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should as a matter of fact look into the reasons why unsuspecting publics are reluctant in depositing money in the banks and prefer to patronise quacks. The Federal Government should make Nigerian citizens to be confident in depositing their money in the banks instead of depositing in investment companies that will disappoint them.
Financial institutions should be regulated by CBN and NSE and their activities checked from time to time to monitor their operations.   The issue of floating financial institutions that collapse now and then should be checked by relevant authorities as that has caused so much disaffection to the citizens.
It should be surprising that one will be invited for certain businesses where he or she is expected to deposit an amount of money which capital will triple within the shortest possible time.
Although people want their money to yield some profits so as to attend to their needs but have also complained of how much they have lost to the operation of the forex trading firms because of ‘quick money’. The level of poverty and hardship can compel people to get involved in such expensive businesses. They should be discouraged from taking advantage of the situation in the country to dupe others when their businesses are not genuine.
Let the Federal Government take the responsibility of creating jobs and enabling environment for businesses to thrive in Nigeria so as to curb further occurrences. It is pathetic to see people lose millions of naira because they want to make money to cater for the need of their families.
There are arguments from different quarters that those agencies advertise their services through the media which should be able to identify fake business operations. But it behooves the customers to patronise such and not after series of inquiries. Investors should make adequate inquiries before depositing their money into forex trading companies. It is not wrong to get ideas about a worthwhile business while making a living, but it is to be able to identify which is real or fake and then take a firm decision responsibly.
An adult should have a second thought when invited to claim a reward that is far beyond what you invested within a period  as the person is not the CBN neither does the person print money. That will go a long way in preventing people from falling victim.
Nigerians should stop being gullible and be wise. Is freezing the account of the investors which has affected the income of the patronisers the best option?  If putting in money into genuine business is good then nothing is wrong with that; after all, one does not get enough interest from the banks.
Anti-graft agencies are the ones that have the right to carry out investigations and scrutinise erring investment firms. Most of them failing unsuspecting public are registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). If some of the licensed companies are not genuine, why are they issued licenses to operate?
Those who lose money deposited with forex trading firms should not blame the investment companies; after all, they were not compelled to invest.

By: Eunice Choko-Kayode