PUNCH
A sad picture of hardship and desperation keeps emerging in the border communities of Ogun State. It has been five years since the Nigerian government banned fuel supply in their areas. For residents of border communities in Ipokia Local Government Area, the hardship has only worsened as they struggle for energy like foreigners in their fatherland. DARE OLAWIN writes about the pains of the people and their unavailing pleas to the Federal Government for succour
In 2019, former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had, through the Nigeria Customs Service, stopped fuel supply to all filling stations within 20-kilometre distance from the nation’s borders to stop the smuggling of the product through these borders. This, however, had negative effects on the locals inhabiting these usually neglected geographical locations. The former Customs Comptroller-General, Hameed Ali, had directed that “no petroleum product, no matter the tank size is permitted to be discharged in any filling station within 20km to the border.”
The Federal Government was of the view that subsidised fuel meant for Nigerians was being diverted to neighbouring countries by smugglers, leaving the nation in heavy financial burden. Since then, Ogun indigenes living in border communities said they had been paying the excruciating price as they go through a lot to get the fuel needed to power vehicles, bikes, generators and other engines. Countless, they said, is the number of lives and properties gutted by fire as people transport or harbour the highly flammable commodity.
The PUNCH gathered that residents of the agrarian Ipokia, Agosasa, Idiroko, Ajegunle, Ibatefin, Tube, Ijofin, Maun, Ifonyintedo, Madoga, Agada and other communities in the area now buy fuel at over N1,600 per litre from local retailers otherwise known as ‘black marketers’. According to them, the Federal Government had been “punishing” them for having been created by God at the borders between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin.
It was also observed that the abandoned filling stations standing by the roads in Ipokia Local Government are now places of abode to animals, rodents and reptiles. In some cases, hoodlums converted the petrol stations into their hideouts, vandalising the same and plunging the owners into further debt.
Since the subsidy was removed, the government has refused to lift the ban on the supply of petrol to border communities. This left residents at the mercy of black-market vendors, who sell petrol at exorbitant prices. Meanwhile, calls to the Federal Government for a resolution to the crisis have been met with silence. The situation is having a severe impact on the lives of ordinary people in these areas who are struggling to make ends meet. Not only are they denied access to fuel, but the people cannot recall the last time their bulbs received current from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company. In short, energy poverty is a major challenge facing the border residents.
Crossing rivers to buy fuel
In their quest to get fuel, which is an essential commodity for their day-to-day activities, residents who spoke with our correspondent explained how they usually travel miles and cross the rivers in most cases to buy fuel in Badagry, Lagos State.
“In most cases, those of us in Ipokia town and environs will go to Badagry through the rivers in Akere, Zigi, Tafa, or Vawhe Hundo to get petrol. That is too much pain to bear. And when you’re coming back, law enforcement agents will start running after you as if you have carried contraband. They will be acting as if Badagry and Ipokia are outside Nigeria. We’ve lost lives and property in our ultimate search for PMS. It is sad.
“Even if you travel almost 25km to Ajilete or Owode, the law enforcement agents will be asking you for money. For a 25-litre keg, we pay between N100 and N200. If you refuse to bribe, customs will seize your fuel. That is what we face here. No human being should be facing that kind of pain under this present condition of Nigeria.
“The few people who have the energy to get fuel by all means are the black marketers. They go through a lot to get fuel and resell to us at about N1,600 or more. If not for them, we wouldn’t have access to fuel at all. I can’t remember the last time we had power. We are suffering,” explained a trader, Mrs Yinka Alabi.
After President Tinubu removed subsidies from fuel on May 29, 2023, many had called on the Federal Government to lift the ban on petroleum products in the border communities, but the government has since remained silent. During his visits to Ogun State last year, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, agreed with traditional rulers and residents that the policy has to be reviewed following the removal of the subsidy. The NCS boss assured residents of Ipokia and other border communities in Nigeria that efforts were ongoing to resume the supply of petroleum products in their areas soon.
“On fuel supply in border communities, we are actively monitoring the situation. If you remember, there was a resolution by the Senate expressing the same concern. We also have a shared understanding of this. We have made our position known to the National Security Adviser and we are hoping that in the next few days, there might be a review of this policy,” Adeniyi said while addressing newsmen in Abeokuta.
However, over five months later, the Federal Government has yet to consider lifting the ban, leaving border dwellers in more hardship compared to what other Nigerians endure as a result of fuel subsidy removal.
Policy discriminatory, says legal practitioner
The Baamofin of Ipokia Kingdom, Lawal Orisadare, a legal practitioner, described the policy as discriminatory, saying it was against the provisions of Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. According to Orisadare, the ban on fuel supply makes the people of the border community aliens in their own country, creating an artificial boundary in Ajilete and carving out the Ipokia Local Government out of the 774 Local Governments listed in the constitution.
“Much as we appreciate the objective of the policy, which was mainly to curb the smuggling of petroleum products, I wish to state emphatically that the policy is discriminatory. It offends the provision of Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as altered. The policy discriminates against the people of Ipokia Local Government. It makes them aliens in their country. It has created an artificial boundary in Ajilete, thus carving out Ipokia LG out of the 774 Local Governments listed in the constitution of Nigeria.
“Honestly, the refusal of the Federal Government to lift the ban on fuel supply to Ipokia Local Government keeps inflicting unimaginable pains on the people of the Local Government. It has increased the cost of living in the area. More worrisome is the dependence of the people on the individually generated power supply as there is barely a public power supply to the Ipokia Local Government. Of course, the alternative is the use of PMS or diesel for running their generators,” Orisadare sternly asserted.
He said that the government needs to consider the plight of the owners of the petrol stations within the local government, saying, “The ban has impoverished virtually all of them. Most of them can’t afford to send their children to school because the policy has affected their sources of livelihood adversely.”
The legal practitioner described as painful, the fact that residents of the area have to travel far out of Ipokia to buy fuel. “What is the sense in driving one’s car to Ajilete, which is about 24km away from Idiroko to buy 20 litres of PMS?” he queried.
He appealed to Tinubu to urgently lift the ban, especially after he had removed the fuel subsidy, stating, “I plead with Mr President to consider our people. Since the subsidy has been removed, we pray to President Bola Tinubu to have mercy on the people of Ipokia Local Government,” he added.
