Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Video - British PM David Cameron calls Nigeria 'fantastically' corrupt
David Cameron has been caught on camera describing Nigeria and Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt countries” on the eve of a major corruption conference in London.
The Prime Minister will be hosting delegates from the two countries later this week, and the incident as he spoke with the Queen at an event to mark her 90th birthday will be a source of acute embarrassment.
During the summit, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to deliver a keynote address entitled: "Why We Must Tackle Corruption Together".
Mr Cameron could be heard singling out the two states as “possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world”, in footage on ITV News showing him chatting in a group including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Commons Speaker John Bercow.
The Prime Minister told the Queen: “We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning to talk about our anti-corruption summit, we’ve got the Nigerians… actually we’ve got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.
“Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.”
The Archbishop - The Most Rev Justin Welby - is heard to intervene to make clear that "this particular president" is not himself corrupt.
It is not the first time a controversial comment has been overheard in a conversation involving Mr Cameron and the Queen.
In the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, the Prime Minister was heard saying the Queen “purred down the line” when he informed her of the result.
A spokesperson for Downing Street declined to comment directly on Tuesday's conversation, but did point out that the leaders of both Nigeria and Afghanistan have themselves spoken about the scale of their corruption problems.
Afghanistan's Ashraf Ghani and Nigeria's Mr Buhari have written essays for a book accompanying the summit.
Mr Ghani, Number 10 said, acknowledges in his piece that Afghanistan is “one of the most corrupt countries on earth” and Mr Buhari that corruption became a “way of life” in his country under “supposedly accountable democratic governments”.
Anti-corruption movement Transparency International ranked Afghanistan as 166th and Nigeria 136th out of 168 countries and territories in its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2015.
Independent
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
American football gaining interest in Nigeria
American soccer is fast gaining ground in Nigeria, with tens of enthusiasts warming up to the sport. As CCTV's Deji Badmus reports, the proponents of the sport in the country want to make American soccer as popular as football.
Shell evacuates workers from oil field in Nigeria
Shell workers at Nigeria's Bonga oil field in the southern Niger Delta are being evacuated following a militant threat, a labor union official said on Monday as the vice president met oil majors to discuss a surge in violence.
Last week, militants attacked a Chevron facility in the impoverished Delta where tensions have been building up since authorities issued an arrest warrant in January for a former militant leader on corruption charges.
Shell has been evacuating workers from Bonga, a union official said as local media reported an unconfirmed militant attack in the area.
"The evacuation is being done in categories of workers and cadres," Cogent Ojobor, chairman of the Warri branch of the Nupeng oil labor union, said. "My members are yet to be evacuated."
He gave no numbers.
A Shell spokesman said earlier that oil output was continuing at its oil fields in Nigeria while it was monitoring the security situation.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the evening in the capital Abuja met executives from Shell, France's Total, and Italy's Agip and Chevron. All declined to talk to Reuters.
"All of us as stakeholders are concerned and we have agreed to work together to ensure that production is not disrupted," said Henry Dickson, governor of the oil-producing Bayelsa state in the Delta, who took part in the meeting.
"This is a time that we cannot afford to have any disruption, not to talk of vandalism of critical national assets," he said.
In separate violence, gunmen killed four policemen traveling to Bayelsa's capital Yenagoa, police said.
A group known as the Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for the Chevron attack. The same group has said it carried out an attack on a Shell oil pipeline in February which shut down the 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal.
Residents in the Delta have been demanding a greater share of oil revenues. Crude oil sales account for around 70 percent of national income in Nigeria but there has not been much development in the region.
President Muhammadu Buhari has extended a multimillion-dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009 but upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts.
The militancy is a further challenge for a government faced with an insurgency by the Islamist militant Boko Haram group in the northeast and violent clashes between armed nomadic herdsmen and locals over land use in various parts of the country.
Last week, militants attacked a Chevron facility in the impoverished Delta where tensions have been building up since authorities issued an arrest warrant in January for a former militant leader on corruption charges.
Shell has been evacuating workers from Bonga, a union official said as local media reported an unconfirmed militant attack in the area.
"The evacuation is being done in categories of workers and cadres," Cogent Ojobor, chairman of the Warri branch of the Nupeng oil labor union, said. "My members are yet to be evacuated."
He gave no numbers.
A Shell spokesman said earlier that oil output was continuing at its oil fields in Nigeria while it was monitoring the security situation.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the evening in the capital Abuja met executives from Shell, France's Total, and Italy's Agip and Chevron. All declined to talk to Reuters.
"All of us as stakeholders are concerned and we have agreed to work together to ensure that production is not disrupted," said Henry Dickson, governor of the oil-producing Bayelsa state in the Delta, who took part in the meeting.
"This is a time that we cannot afford to have any disruption, not to talk of vandalism of critical national assets," he said.
In separate violence, gunmen killed four policemen traveling to Bayelsa's capital Yenagoa, police said.
A group known as the Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for the Chevron attack. The same group has said it carried out an attack on a Shell oil pipeline in February which shut down the 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal.
Residents in the Delta have been demanding a greater share of oil revenues. Crude oil sales account for around 70 percent of national income in Nigeria but there has not been much development in the region.
President Muhammadu Buhari has extended a multimillion-dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009 but upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts.
The militancy is a further challenge for a government faced with an insurgency by the Islamist militant Boko Haram group in the northeast and violent clashes between armed nomadic herdsmen and locals over land use in various parts of the country.
Nigeria orders investigation in misappropriation of Global Fund grants
The Nigerian government has directed the country’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to launch full investigation into the alleged misappropriation of Global Fund Grants Nigeria received from 2010 to 2014.
The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, said, “President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR gave the directive as part of government’s effort and commitment to fight corruption in the country. The President has also directed the Secretary to the Government of Federation to review earlier audit reports from the Office of Inspector General (OIG)”.
Consequently, the Secretary to the Federal Government has set-up two investigative panels to look into the affected programmes and the financial transactions.
The first panel, headed by Mr. Adewole, will conduct in-depth review of all programmes while the second panel, chaired by Auditor General of the Federation – Mr Samuel Ukura, will review all financial transactions during the period.
The two committees are expected to submit their reports within four weeks.
“Mr President assured members of the international community that all funds received by Nigeria would be well utilised and accounted for under his watch to avoid national embarrassment,” Mr. Adewole said.
He further said all indicted officials would be given fair hearing and those found guilty would be sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others
On May 3, Global Funds announced that its Inspector General (OIG) audit of grants in Nigeria identified significant problems in procurement, supply chain, financial and program management.
The announcement said, “The auditors found discrepancies of over US$4 million between drugs ordered and delivered; US$20 million paid to suppliers without confirmation of delivery; stock-outs of eight months for critical medicines; and a total of US$7.65 million in unsupported expenditures. The Global Fund is reviewing corrective measures, particularly with regard to risk management, identified by the OIG as the root cause of many of the issues.
“With more than US$1.4 billion invested since 2003, Nigeria represents the Global Fund’s largest portfolio. Programs to date have contributed to 750,000 people living with HIV/AIDS currently on antiretroviral therapy, 310,000 new smear-positive tuberculosis cases detected and treated and 93.4 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets distributed to prevent the spread of malaria.
“Regarding procurement, the OIG found that Principal Recipients, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS and the National Malaria Elimination Program do not monitor the deliveries to the central medical store in Lagos of drugs arriving through the Global Fund’s Pooled Procurement Mechanism (a system that allows the Global Fund to bulk order health commodities at favorable prices).
“This resulted in discrepancies in antiretroviral drugs deliveries of US$3.7 million from 2013 to September 2015 and US$0.5 million in artemisinin-based combination therapy drugs. The OIG also identified payments amounting to US$20 million made to a procurement agent without confirmation of services rendered or goods delivered.
“The auditors found major weaknesses in supply chain management including ineffective controls over inventory management and distribution directly affecting service delivery to patients in Nigeria. Stock-outs lasting 8 months of critical medicines such as antiretroviral drugs and artemisinin-based combination therapies were found in 42 health facilities visited by the OIG. In addition, HIV commodities worth US$5.4 million had expired in the last two years.
“Although the OIG noted minor improvements since the introduction of a fiduciary agent in May 2015, financial management controls were found to be inadequate and ineffective. For example, the auditors identified a total of US$7.65 million of unsupported expenses linked to human resources, payment approval processes and advances management.
“Significant weaknesses exist in the internal controls around data collection and reporting processes. This resulted in more than 10% of errors between the data recorded at the facility level and data reported to the state coordinator and the Global Fund. The issues identified were mainly for the HIV and malaria programs. Good practice, however, was observed on data recorded for the tuberculosis programs.
“The OIG concluded that the Global Fund’s risk management framework in Nigeria is ineffective. The organization is unable to identify, mitigate and monitor the risks effectively. This explains many of the problems identified by the OIG audit. For example, although the Secretariat introduced the Pooled Procurement Mechanism to the Nigeria portfolio, limited preventative controls are in place to ensure that drugs procured through the mechanism are actually delivered and then distributed.
“The Secretariat is currently reviewing a number of corrective actions including assessing potential recoverable funds, internal control deficiencies and the grant recipients’ ability to deliver key Global Fund objectives in Nigeria.”
The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, said, “President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR gave the directive as part of government’s effort and commitment to fight corruption in the country. The President has also directed the Secretary to the Government of Federation to review earlier audit reports from the Office of Inspector General (OIG)”.
Consequently, the Secretary to the Federal Government has set-up two investigative panels to look into the affected programmes and the financial transactions.
The first panel, headed by Mr. Adewole, will conduct in-depth review of all programmes while the second panel, chaired by Auditor General of the Federation – Mr Samuel Ukura, will review all financial transactions during the period.
The two committees are expected to submit their reports within four weeks.
“Mr President assured members of the international community that all funds received by Nigeria would be well utilised and accounted for under his watch to avoid national embarrassment,” Mr. Adewole said.
He further said all indicted officials would be given fair hearing and those found guilty would be sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others
On May 3, Global Funds announced that its Inspector General (OIG) audit of grants in Nigeria identified significant problems in procurement, supply chain, financial and program management.
The announcement said, “The auditors found discrepancies of over US$4 million between drugs ordered and delivered; US$20 million paid to suppliers without confirmation of delivery; stock-outs of eight months for critical medicines; and a total of US$7.65 million in unsupported expenditures. The Global Fund is reviewing corrective measures, particularly with regard to risk management, identified by the OIG as the root cause of many of the issues.
“With more than US$1.4 billion invested since 2003, Nigeria represents the Global Fund’s largest portfolio. Programs to date have contributed to 750,000 people living with HIV/AIDS currently on antiretroviral therapy, 310,000 new smear-positive tuberculosis cases detected and treated and 93.4 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets distributed to prevent the spread of malaria.
“Regarding procurement, the OIG found that Principal Recipients, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS and the National Malaria Elimination Program do not monitor the deliveries to the central medical store in Lagos of drugs arriving through the Global Fund’s Pooled Procurement Mechanism (a system that allows the Global Fund to bulk order health commodities at favorable prices).
“This resulted in discrepancies in antiretroviral drugs deliveries of US$3.7 million from 2013 to September 2015 and US$0.5 million in artemisinin-based combination therapy drugs. The OIG also identified payments amounting to US$20 million made to a procurement agent without confirmation of services rendered or goods delivered.
“The auditors found major weaknesses in supply chain management including ineffective controls over inventory management and distribution directly affecting service delivery to patients in Nigeria. Stock-outs lasting 8 months of critical medicines such as antiretroviral drugs and artemisinin-based combination therapies were found in 42 health facilities visited by the OIG. In addition, HIV commodities worth US$5.4 million had expired in the last two years.
“Although the OIG noted minor improvements since the introduction of a fiduciary agent in May 2015, financial management controls were found to be inadequate and ineffective. For example, the auditors identified a total of US$7.65 million of unsupported expenses linked to human resources, payment approval processes and advances management.
“Significant weaknesses exist in the internal controls around data collection and reporting processes. This resulted in more than 10% of errors between the data recorded at the facility level and data reported to the state coordinator and the Global Fund. The issues identified were mainly for the HIV and malaria programs. Good practice, however, was observed on data recorded for the tuberculosis programs.
“The OIG concluded that the Global Fund’s risk management framework in Nigeria is ineffective. The organization is unable to identify, mitigate and monitor the risks effectively. This explains many of the problems identified by the OIG audit. For example, although the Secretariat introduced the Pooled Procurement Mechanism to the Nigeria portfolio, limited preventative controls are in place to ensure that drugs procured through the mechanism are actually delivered and then distributed.
“The Secretariat is currently reviewing a number of corrective actions including assessing potential recoverable funds, internal control deficiencies and the grant recipients’ ability to deliver key Global Fund objectives in Nigeria.”
Tensions run high as Nigeria's economy nose dives
Young men became entangled in a swirl of flying fists. Gas station workers swatted away boys hoping to fill their plastic cans. A mother with a sleeping baby in her minivan was chased off, rightly accused of jumping the line. A driver eager to get ahead crashed into several cars, the sound of crunching metal barely registering amid the noise.
Nigerians were getting used to days like this.
But then came the ultimate insult to everyone waiting at the Oando mega gas station: A bus marked Ministry of Justice rolled up to a pump, leapfrogging no fewer than 99 vehicles. “Service With Integrity” was painted on its door. A gas station supervisor who calls herself Madame No Nonsense stepped aside to let it fuel up before anyone else. The crowd howled at the injustice.
Plummeting oil prices have set off an economic unraveling in Nigeria, one of the world’s top oil producers, and the collective anger of a fed-up nation was pouring out.
“Starvation in the land of plenty,” said Tony Usidamen, a public relations consultant waiting for fuel.
For months, many Nigerians have endured painfully long lines for gasoline and power failures that last for days — with no fuel for backup generators. Scant power means water cuts for homes that rely on electricity to pump it. Everyday items are missing from stores, and those that remain cost more than usual.
In this country of rampant inequality, the poor have long been desperate, and the rich are still able to buy their way out of problems. But the situation in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is having an outsize impact on the expanding middle class, which has become accustomed to air-conditioning, owning a car and going out for Domino’s pizza. Now, even a bottle of Perrier is too expensive for many.
President Muhammadu Buhari is urging patience, noting that when he took office last year he inherited a corruption-plagued mess.
“We are experiencing probably the toughest economic times in the history of our nation,” Mr. Buhari told Nigerians on Friday. “I cannot promise you that this will be an easy journey.”
Low oil prices are not helping. The resulting shortage of dollars means less cash for imports, including fuel to power the nation. Though Nigeria produces millions of barrels of oil a day, it has long had to ship its own crude oil out of the country to be refined into gasoline.
Imported fuel has been arriving in Lagos, a city of 20 million, by tanker truck, a trip that takes a week. Old trucks and bad roads cause delays. Trucks sometimes disappear across the border, where thieves sell the fuel and pocket the cash, and militants keep blowing up oil platforms and pipelines.
The lines at gas stations ebb and flow, depending on the day. But the government says the supply is getting better. It has finally fired up Nigeria’s three rickety oil refineries, and the wait in Lagos improved drastically last week. Eventually, officials say, Nigeria will make all of its own gasoline.
“A certain amount of pain must be endured,” said Garba Deen Muhammad, a spokesman for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. “Everybody must make sacrifices.”
At the gas station in Lagos, Olafay Segun and Abu Bellow tried to sleep away the pain of losing a morning of valuable fares in their yellow minibus. They joined a huge line of vehicles backed up along the expressway. Both men stretched across the old metal seats. In the beating sun, it was like sleeping inside a TV dinner.
Suddenly, the car in front gave up on the wait, pulling out of line and leaving a gap. Mr. Bellow bolted for the driver’s seat, turning the key. Nothing happened. Long seconds passed as both men panicked that someone would pull in front of them. He tried the key again. Success. The bus jolted ahead a few feet.
They wound up behind Adeanike Oso, whose mind was on her chickens. As the owner of Oso Farms, a 3,500-bird operation outside Lagos, she worried they might not have enough food and water.
That morning, Ms. Oso had dropped off her children at school before heading to the farm, but her Nissan Pathfinder was running low on fuel so she pulled into line. That was two hours ago.
Toward the front was Toyin Adeniyi, who was on her way to work as a school administrator. Three hours after arriving at the station, she was still waiting.
As midmorning arrived, young men holding plastic gas cans gathered. “There’s no light, there’s no water, there’s no anything,” said one, Michael Tungi, venting about Nigeria. “Everything is spoiled.”
The station was not allowed to sell gas to Mr. Tungi, to prevent fuel from slipping onto the black market. People had been filling jerrycans and selling gas at high prices to drivers looking to skip long lines at filling stations. Mr. Tungi and the others were optimists, hoping to sneak a few liters.
First they would have to get past Nike Olorunfemi, 50, the station supervisor. Wearing a straw hat and bright yellow vest, she hollered, sometimes with a bullhorn, to let them know they were waiting in vain.
“That’s why they call me Madame No Nonsense Action Lady,” Ms. Olorunfemi said. “I don’t take nonsense.”
The day had started out orderly and calm. Drivers inched forward. The procrastinators, the planners, the innocents — the line absorbed them all, having mercy on no one.
“I’m late already,” grumbled Peter Ademola, a swimming pool maintenance man. He had hopped into a minibus, heading to a repair job, but it was low on fuel. Now he was stuck in line, wiping his brow. Tiny beads of sweat formed above the purple lipstick of the passenger next to him.
“What can I do?” Mr. Ademola said.
Another driver, Ify Ezeobi, a shopkeeper, figured every hour of waiting cost him $100 worth of business at his store. “I’m sick and tired of this,” he said.
It was almost noon when the line stopped altogether. The station’s supply had run dry. Vehicles squealed away to search for fuel elsewhere. It was anyone’s guess when the next fuel truck would arrive.
Some drivers made use of the empty hours until more fuel came. A policeman read over a stack of witness statements. One driver repaired a busted side mirror. A doughnut saleswoman paraded alongside the vehicles. Old friends found one another in line, their reunion an upside to the otherwise grim day.
The hottest part of the day came and, with it, stress. A mother made the calculations of every busy parent — if she waited, would she get to school in time to pick up her children? Three energetic boys bounced in the back seat of another car, hanging out the windows and slugging one another. It was the first day of vacation and their father needed gas to reach their grandparents outside the city.
A billboard with a man clutching his head taunted the stalled motorists: “Need pain relief?”
Ms. Olorunfemi — Madame No Nonsense — was still trying to chase off the people holding gas cans. She snatched a can from one man’s hand and threw it onto the freeway.
“Anybody jumping the queue, they call Action Lady and I send them out,” she said. “I hate cheating.”
But by afternoon, cheating was in abundance. Some drivers employed a fried-chicken strategy: gaining entrance inside the station’s parking lot by claiming they were patronizing the adjoining KFC.
At 2 p.m., a fuel truck rolled in, eliciting a cheer. But unloading its 33,000 liters would take hours.
Two men lugging a heavy generator rested it on the driveway. Three elementary-age boys, sent by their mothers, arrived after school with plastic cans to try their luck.
At nearly 5 p.m., fuel was finally in the pumps again. Drivers started their engines. Wheels spun in the dirt. Station employees blocked off the cars at the KFC, dashing the hopes of line jumpers. Workers gathered around Madame No Nonsense for a pep talk.
“Don’t sell to anyone with a can,” she said. “Be nice to all your customers.”
Horns started blaring. A security guard in T-shirt and jeans, with an AK-47 slung around his chest, stepped in front of the vehicles. The station’s gates scraped open.
“O.K.,” Madame No Nonsense said. “Let’s go.”
Nigerians were getting used to days like this.
But then came the ultimate insult to everyone waiting at the Oando mega gas station: A bus marked Ministry of Justice rolled up to a pump, leapfrogging no fewer than 99 vehicles. “Service With Integrity” was painted on its door. A gas station supervisor who calls herself Madame No Nonsense stepped aside to let it fuel up before anyone else. The crowd howled at the injustice.
Plummeting oil prices have set off an economic unraveling in Nigeria, one of the world’s top oil producers, and the collective anger of a fed-up nation was pouring out.
“Starvation in the land of plenty,” said Tony Usidamen, a public relations consultant waiting for fuel.
For months, many Nigerians have endured painfully long lines for gasoline and power failures that last for days — with no fuel for backup generators. Scant power means water cuts for homes that rely on electricity to pump it. Everyday items are missing from stores, and those that remain cost more than usual.
In this country of rampant inequality, the poor have long been desperate, and the rich are still able to buy their way out of problems. But the situation in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is having an outsize impact on the expanding middle class, which has become accustomed to air-conditioning, owning a car and going out for Domino’s pizza. Now, even a bottle of Perrier is too expensive for many.
President Muhammadu Buhari is urging patience, noting that when he took office last year he inherited a corruption-plagued mess.
“We are experiencing probably the toughest economic times in the history of our nation,” Mr. Buhari told Nigerians on Friday. “I cannot promise you that this will be an easy journey.”
Low oil prices are not helping. The resulting shortage of dollars means less cash for imports, including fuel to power the nation. Though Nigeria produces millions of barrels of oil a day, it has long had to ship its own crude oil out of the country to be refined into gasoline.
Imported fuel has been arriving in Lagos, a city of 20 million, by tanker truck, a trip that takes a week. Old trucks and bad roads cause delays. Trucks sometimes disappear across the border, where thieves sell the fuel and pocket the cash, and militants keep blowing up oil platforms and pipelines.
The lines at gas stations ebb and flow, depending on the day. But the government says the supply is getting better. It has finally fired up Nigeria’s three rickety oil refineries, and the wait in Lagos improved drastically last week. Eventually, officials say, Nigeria will make all of its own gasoline.
“A certain amount of pain must be endured,” said Garba Deen Muhammad, a spokesman for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. “Everybody must make sacrifices.”
At the gas station in Lagos, Olafay Segun and Abu Bellow tried to sleep away the pain of losing a morning of valuable fares in their yellow minibus. They joined a huge line of vehicles backed up along the expressway. Both men stretched across the old metal seats. In the beating sun, it was like sleeping inside a TV dinner.
Suddenly, the car in front gave up on the wait, pulling out of line and leaving a gap. Mr. Bellow bolted for the driver’s seat, turning the key. Nothing happened. Long seconds passed as both men panicked that someone would pull in front of them. He tried the key again. Success. The bus jolted ahead a few feet.
They wound up behind Adeanike Oso, whose mind was on her chickens. As the owner of Oso Farms, a 3,500-bird operation outside Lagos, she worried they might not have enough food and water.
That morning, Ms. Oso had dropped off her children at school before heading to the farm, but her Nissan Pathfinder was running low on fuel so she pulled into line. That was two hours ago.
Toward the front was Toyin Adeniyi, who was on her way to work as a school administrator. Three hours after arriving at the station, she was still waiting.
As midmorning arrived, young men holding plastic gas cans gathered. “There’s no light, there’s no water, there’s no anything,” said one, Michael Tungi, venting about Nigeria. “Everything is spoiled.”
The station was not allowed to sell gas to Mr. Tungi, to prevent fuel from slipping onto the black market. People had been filling jerrycans and selling gas at high prices to drivers looking to skip long lines at filling stations. Mr. Tungi and the others were optimists, hoping to sneak a few liters.
First they would have to get past Nike Olorunfemi, 50, the station supervisor. Wearing a straw hat and bright yellow vest, she hollered, sometimes with a bullhorn, to let them know they were waiting in vain.
“That’s why they call me Madame No Nonsense Action Lady,” Ms. Olorunfemi said. “I don’t take nonsense.”
The day had started out orderly and calm. Drivers inched forward. The procrastinators, the planners, the innocents — the line absorbed them all, having mercy on no one.
“I’m late already,” grumbled Peter Ademola, a swimming pool maintenance man. He had hopped into a minibus, heading to a repair job, but it was low on fuel. Now he was stuck in line, wiping his brow. Tiny beads of sweat formed above the purple lipstick of the passenger next to him.
“What can I do?” Mr. Ademola said.
Another driver, Ify Ezeobi, a shopkeeper, figured every hour of waiting cost him $100 worth of business at his store. “I’m sick and tired of this,” he said.
It was almost noon when the line stopped altogether. The station’s supply had run dry. Vehicles squealed away to search for fuel elsewhere. It was anyone’s guess when the next fuel truck would arrive.
Some drivers made use of the empty hours until more fuel came. A policeman read over a stack of witness statements. One driver repaired a busted side mirror. A doughnut saleswoman paraded alongside the vehicles. Old friends found one another in line, their reunion an upside to the otherwise grim day.
The hottest part of the day came and, with it, stress. A mother made the calculations of every busy parent — if she waited, would she get to school in time to pick up her children? Three energetic boys bounced in the back seat of another car, hanging out the windows and slugging one another. It was the first day of vacation and their father needed gas to reach their grandparents outside the city.
A billboard with a man clutching his head taunted the stalled motorists: “Need pain relief?”
Ms. Olorunfemi — Madame No Nonsense — was still trying to chase off the people holding gas cans. She snatched a can from one man’s hand and threw it onto the freeway.
“Anybody jumping the queue, they call Action Lady and I send them out,” she said. “I hate cheating.”
But by afternoon, cheating was in abundance. Some drivers employed a fried-chicken strategy: gaining entrance inside the station’s parking lot by claiming they were patronizing the adjoining KFC.
At 2 p.m., a fuel truck rolled in, eliciting a cheer. But unloading its 33,000 liters would take hours.
Two men lugging a heavy generator rested it on the driveway. Three elementary-age boys, sent by their mothers, arrived after school with plastic cans to try their luck.
At nearly 5 p.m., fuel was finally in the pumps again. Drivers started their engines. Wheels spun in the dirt. Station employees blocked off the cars at the KFC, dashing the hopes of line jumpers. Workers gathered around Madame No Nonsense for a pep talk.
“Don’t sell to anyone with a can,” she said. “Be nice to all your customers.”
Horns started blaring. A security guard in T-shirt and jeans, with an AK-47 slung around his chest, stepped in front of the vehicles. The station’s gates scraped open.
“O.K.,” Madame No Nonsense said. “Let’s go.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)