On Friday, 22nd April, 2022, a petrol-laden tanker exploded in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, destroying many lives and property.

The explosion, which took place at Ajegunle Bus Stop along the popular Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, claimed one life and destroyed at least three vehicles, as was reported by the Lagos Fire and Rescue Service.

The tanker, which was loaded with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol, reportedly overturned while attempting to enter a filling station by the expressway, hence spilled its entire content.

The South-West Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye disclosed to newsmen that the sole fatality of the incident was a 15-year-old Oluwatobi Lawal, who was preparing for his WAEC and JAMB examinations.

On her part, the Director of the Lagos Fire and Rescue Service, Margeret Adeseye said in a statement that they received a distress call regarding the fire outbreak at about 2:16am (WAT), from a tanker meant to service one Ayinde Oil filling station at Ajegunle.

“Unfortunately, a male adult was recovered and suspected dead, likewise three various brands of vehicles involved in the Fire, aside the tanker and shops,’’ the statement read in parts.

The tanker “accidentally spilled its 45,000 liters PMS content while negotiating a bend to the station before resulting in fire from the nefarious activities of scoopers at the Toll Gate end, causing it to spread through some roadside makeshift shops to its source at Ajegunle Bus Stop.

She said the situation was, however, brought under control by fire-fighters from Agege, Ikeja, and Alausa.

In a related report, Joseph Akinsanya, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Agbado Unit Commander, Joseph Akinsanya stated that the fire destroyed ten shops.

He explained that the tanker, with no registration number, coming from Lagos, was trying to enter a filling station when it suddenly overturned and caught fire, while attributing the cause of the incident to leakage that spilled the content on the road.

“Unfortunately, one person was burnt beyond recognition; many people, the number, which is yet to be ascertained, were injured, while ten shops were also burnt.

“However, some of the injured victims were taken to a nearby hospital, and Ota General Hospital, while the corpse had been deposited at Ifo General Hospital, Ogun,” he said.

Mr. Akinsanya advised motorists to drive cautiously and obey traffic rules and regulations as they have diverted away traffic from the scene of the incident.

He also implored them to cooperate with traffic managers that were on the ground to manage the situation in order to reduce the time spent in the gridlocks.

The Unit Commander said the FRSC personnel and other sister agencies carried out the rescue operation and could extinguish the fire with the help of the Lagos State Fire Service.

Explosion of tankers, carrying petroleum products, on Nigerian roads, has indeed become a recurring decimal, hence seems not unlike a norm in the country’s everyday life.

This is quite appalling, to assert the least. It suffices to say that the concerned authorities and stakeholders as well as well-meaning individuals really need to look inwards with a view to ensuring that this uncalled and cruel incident becomes a thing of the past within the shores of Nigeria’s polity.

On most occasions, you would discover that this unfortunate occurrence is usually attributable to a high level of unguided touting practice on the country’s various roads. Hence, this must be looked into in earnest by the relevant law enforcement agencies.

Above all, it’s not anymore news that virtually all the roads across the country, especially the highways, are currently in a very bad state. This ought to equally be addressed by the governments at all levels.

The Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA), Rtd Major Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd) had stated that the various security agencies in the country were not deploying adequate technology to combat insecurity because of its difficult procurement process.

The NSA, who made this disclosure while briefing newsmen at the State House in Abuja on 21st April 2022, attributed the non-deployment of adequate technology to its expensive nature.

While highlighting the challenges faced while procuring technological devices to fight insecurity, Monguno said the government was trying its best to meet up with its responsibilities.

“So the first question has to do with why is it so difficult to deploy technology. One, technology is expensive. Technology takes time to acquire these things since inherently we do not produce these very, very delicate equipment.

“It’s not as if the government is not making any effort to acquire but we need to know who to acquire this technology from, where, when and there are certain processes.

“For now, I know we have but the plight is that they are inadequate. So to the government, it’s a continuous process. That’s what I can say about the issue of deploying technology,” he said.

He added that one of the major causes of insecurity in Nigeria was the porosity of the country’s borders, informing that the government was working with neighbouring countries to ensure that illegal entry into Nigeria is curtailed.

“On the question on border security, obviously, we have very extensive borders, and I’m not going to deceive anyone. All of us know that we have problems of infiltration by virtue of the fact that we have a very large economy.

“It attracts a lot of people from outside and they come in illegally, not just through the land borders, but also through the maritime waters.

“Of course, in the case of the maritime borders, most of things have been done in the last one year to secure the maritime domain, up to the point that, the International Maritime Bureau has acknowledged the fact that in 27 years, our maritime borders have not been as secure and peaceful as they were in the last one year.

“That is a fact, it is not a conjecture, I didn’t cook up this thing. So we want to see how we can replicate that type of efforts put in the maritime domain on our land borders. That is something that council is looking into,” he said.

It’s not anymore news that in recent times, insecurity in Nigeria has worsened under the Buhari-led administration as the country witnessed some of the bloodiest attacks in its history.

Currently, virtually every geo-political zone within the shores of the country suffers one form of attack or the other, notably from outfits such as Boko Haram/ISWAP, IPOB separatists, herdsmen, and bandits.

The country has equally witnessed the highest number of school children abductions and hostage-taking since 2014 when the Chibok schoolgirls were abducted.

In the same vein, the highest number of jailbreaks in a single year has been experienced by the acclaimed giant of Africa, as no fewer than four prisons had been affected counting from last year.

Bandits have abruptly overshadowed the Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists as they had made some states in the North-West and North-Central the epicentres of killings in the country.

Though the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government has repeatedly claimed that Nigerians are more secure under its watch than during the previous administrations, the assertion had been disputed by facts on the ground.

Munguno’s claims could be described as laughable, because Nigeria conspicuously possesses all it takes to ensure the needed devices are procured. Whatever protocol and financing required to do the needful can be provided by the country.

Talking about porosity of the various borders, in my capacity as a tech expert and policy analyst, I have variously taken time to provide measures needed to be deployed towards addressing the country’s porous borders, and similar advice had equally been tendered by other concerned Nigerians, yet till date, we are still singing same song as regards security challenges.

The above assertions and revelations are indications that Nigeria’s current security quagmire is attributed to lack of political will.