Nigeria is a nation where laws are enforced when the common man is involved or where a government has a score to settle with the privileged in society. This is why it is often argued that the Rule of Law which is a function of  Democratic governance is a mirage in Nigeria  Equality before the Law is only in principle. It is not applicable to the rich. Looking at the trend of governance, it is not out of place to say that Nigeria operates a “Pluto-Democratic” system  which is the Government of a few rich people who influence the processes of governance, thus becoming de facto emperors. That is why it is difficult for the law to catch up with the rich culprit, even when there is substantial evidence that there is an infraction on the law.
Otherwise how can one explain the sordid situation that even amid extant laws, petrol, diesel and gas stations which are highly inflammable, are daily sited in residential and close to each other. It is difficult to consign to history the loss of property and lives occasioned by outbreak of fire from petrol tankers and filling stations across the country. On a Sunday morning in February, 2023, a petrol tanker waiting to discharge petrol in a petrol station in Aluu area of Obio/Allot Local Government Area of Rivers State burst into flames following what was said to be a spark. The petrol station and neighbouring houses were burnt while property worth millions of naira were lost. Only last year, two cases of explosion of gas facilities were recorded in Port Harcourt. One of the incidents was recorded at Rumuodomanya area of Obio/Local Government Area. Unspecified number of people lost their lives in that avoidable incident which can best be described as man’s inhumanity to man.
In 1999, along the Mile 3 area of Port Harcourt, a filling station was also gutted by fire and some surrounding buildings were not spared . All those disasters were not natural. They were human coinage. The unfortunate incidents would have been averted if those saddled with the responsibility of regulating the siting of filling station, had not compromised the existing unambiguous relevant laws. Recall the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) Procedure Guideline (2010), under the Petroleum Act, CAP 150 of 1967, states: “The implications for flouting the DPR guidelines by petrol stations range from classifying that the petrol station as illegal to revocation of licence, depending on the gravity of the offence.” Is this guideline no longer effective? Is the rule about distances that should be observed between fuel stations and residential houses no longer necessary too? Can we say that the owners of these stations manipulated and influenced the processes so much so that the officers of the relevant agencies gave a blind eye to these exceedingly ugly incidents that have caused colossal loss of lives and property? The compromise is done with impunity by culprits., even without fear of being sanctioned. Are those standard hackers and zero-integrity staff of Government agencies, ministry and parastatals’ responsible for regulating and enforcing existing laws above the law? It seems the regulatory authorities are lackadaisical about this issue and are not bothered about the loss of lives and property as a result of the blazing fire  from a burning fuel station. If they are, we should have stopped seeing them spring from almost everywhere and we should have read about two or three that were sanctioned due to the constructions of these stations illegally.
And why is the government looking the other way? Does it mean the government is more concerned about the economic importance than the lives of the people? It should not be a subject of debate that the health of the people and their lives are at stake if the siting of filling stations and gas stations are not monitored. The government should make sure the guidelines and rules are strictly adhered to, not minding who is involved. With the way filling stations are being built within residential areas and close to each other,  one cannot but wonder if it is the only business in town. It is very wrong to approve a filling station or a gas station within residential areas.
Before the late 1990s, it was hard to see filling or gas stations within residential areas. You could only find filling stations on major roads. There is no gainsaying that petroleum products ranging from premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, to gas or diesel are highly inflammable. This explains why their locations should be taken into consideration so they would not pose any threat to people around.The trucks that carry these products are usually long and very heavy when loaded or when not. When discharging the product, the trucks need enough space. Most roads within the residential vicinities are not wide enough to accommodate the sizes of these trucks and that explains why there are incessant cases of tankers falling and the products wasted.
In 2020 on the East-West Road of Eleme axis, a product laden tanker fell and emptied its contents. Several people reportedly lost their lives in another incident, while trying to scoop the spilled product which caught fire following a spark. It is not out of place to see drainages destroyed from time to time while the petrol trucks are trying to discharge or leave the stations. This shows that the transportation, discharging and how these products are stored should also be a source of worry as these are highly inflammable products.The strange aspect is the nonchalant attitude of those saddled with issuing permit before  a filling station is put in place.  There is no way work can start without getting approval from necessary authorities. This makes one to wonder if lives are important to those involved in this regard before allowing such. At least, the rule is that fuel stations must be at least 400 metres away from one another. But we can see how filling stations are closely sited all over the country. One then  wonders who approved the building of these filling stations, especially in residential areas within highly populated areas.
It is high time the government and those in the authorities began to revoke the licences of the guilty.. Any government official who gave out such licence should be brought to book and charged to court.  The 400-metre interval rule should be enforced to curb the building of filling stations too closely to one another even on major roads.All illegal structures should be demolished. The locations of these stations should be checked properly to avoid disaster. The government should be fully involved in this to avert further loss of lives and property that this unwholesome trend has caused. Money should not be placed above the lives and property of the Nigerian people.

By: Igbiki Benibo