I have been in the UK a few years now and NEVER have I ever seen a petrol tanker on the road. NEVER.

Countries that value human lives transport petrol/goods using buried pipelines and cargo rail systems.

Having petrol tankers and trailers on the road will always cause tragedy.

Time and time again, the evidence is there for all to see that these petrol tankers and trailers using the same roads/highways with every other road user will continue to put human lives at risk and innocent people will get killed off as a result of this nauseating incompetence.

While many may have been deceived that we can not afford a functional rail system, let me remind you (once more) that we are a shameless country with lawmakers (senators) who earn on a monthly basis more money than the current U.K. Prime Minister and the current USA President.

It is interesting to note that we hav leaders who are almost exclusively elite and widely traveled.

They KNOW and they SEE how things work in safer and saner climes but because they are mentally impoverished, they seem too intellectually handicapped to replicate such at home.

While we are inclined to #PrayForNigeria at this trying moments and we should (in respect to the families who have had to directly pay for this madness that we collectively tolerate), let us never forget that we need MORE THAN PRAYERS.

Prayers ALONE will never fix nothing.

NO country develops simply/solely because of prayers.

We probably have more churches and mosques than any other country in the world, yet we are as backward as we are despite all of that.

Anyone who is a thinking person should already know we have to do more than just praying.

As citizens, we need to do more.
We need to get to a point where we absolutely have to demand for better.

Some cups of rice, silly campaign T-Shirts and dirty naira notes every four years will NOT fix anyone’s life, or fix this country’s problems.

We absolutely deserve better.

I was going through Funmi Iyanda’s TL yesterday, she said between 1982 and today, she can remember about 4 of this type of explosions.
For many of us, this is the first we heard of. But you know what is absolutely mind blowing?

It is that we all seem to know NOTHING will be done

Why will there be an avoidable petrol tanker explosion with over 50 vehicles absolutely burnt to ashes, many with human beings trapped in them and NOTHING will be done?

Why will nobody be sacked?
Why will nobody be jailed?
Why will nobody be made to pay for this grand stupidity?

Who are those whose jobs is to ensure the safety of these tankers before they get on the roads?

Who are those whose jobs is to ensure a free flowing traffic to prevent this sort of mishaps?

Who are those officials who should detect this tankers on the road and stopped them?

Why is nobody askin questions?
Why is nobody ensuring those culpable for this madness are made to pay heavily for this probable manslaughter and gross incompetence?

How many more avoidable deaths on a weekly basis will it take us to insist on a system that punishes incompetence?

Serious minded countries set up an Inquiry and Investigation Committee to look into this type of avoidable disasters just for the purpose of learning, improving safety measures and punishing incompetence where found.

Why is our ONLY response to these things to “just move on”?

Last week, a trailer with container fell on a bus in Lagos killing people. We were all rightfully outraged, but can I ask a simple question?

What exactly has the Lagos State Government done to prevent a recurrence of that calamity?
What exactly?

We can’t make progress this way.

A country that tolerates incompetence, never asks questions when avoidable calamity befalls people, that is quick to “move on” rather than seek justice after preventable disasters, never insists on leaders taking responsibility for systemic failings is a country that will fail.

As I stated in a previous tweet, the grand tragedy of Africa is that those with ideas are not in power and sadly, the clowns in power have no ideas.

It is my sincere hopes that this sort of calamities will force our best brains to get involved and cause us to revamp the country.