THE persistent scarcity of kerosene in the country has, over the years, created a lot of problems for many families and businesses. It has, in some cases, caused havoc and irreparable losses to many families across the nation. During the periods of kerosene scarcity, it had affected many salary earners income, forcing them to opt for firewood or in some cases, gas. However, it is common knowledge that the use of gas for cooking in Nigeria is common among the upper class of the society because it does not come cheap.The family of Mallam Isyaku Bashir will never forget this years kerosene scarcity experience, after the irreparable loss he suffered. The 40-year-old Mallam Bashir has a sad story to tell. He is one of the many of families in Nigeria who have lost their loved ones to kerosene explosions. The reason for kerosene explosions is not far to seek. Due to scarcity, many retailers resort to various dubious means to make profit and in some cases, other commodities are mixed with kerosene. According to Bashir, this was what happened in his case which resulted in the loss of three children.On that fateful day, while struggling to make life easy for his family, he went to the market in Kano and bought kerosene to be used for cooking. Unknown to him, that same commodity would cause untold hardship and suffering to the family.He gave the kerosene to one of his children while he decided to take a little rest outside the house, in preparation to have his meal.Few minutes later, he was roused by shouts of fire from his house. He wondered what could have started a fire in his house. However, when the reality of the situation dawned on him, he and other people then rushed to salvage items from the fire. All positive attempts made by the good samaritans, however, proved abortive when it was discovered that the fire had already wreaked havoc on the innocent family. Three of his children lay dead when the smoke from the fire cleared.Narrating his ordeal to the Nigerian Tribune, he said, the incident occurred on the first of February, when I was informed that there was not enough kerosene in the house. I went out and bought the kerosene, after which I came back home and I gave the keg of kerosene to one of my children.All of a sudden, I heard the shouts of fire! fire! I was informed that the house was on fire, Mallam Bashir narrated, stating that even before he got to the scene of the incident, many good Samaritans had made spirited efforts to put out the fire as well as rescue any person(s) who could be trapped inside the house.Despite the spirited efforts of the people to rescue both lives and property, the damage had already been done as my innocent children, three in number, had been consumed by the fire. What compounded the whole effort, was that the children, out of confusion, in order to escape from the fire, rushed inside the rooms when the living room was already gutted by the inferno, instead of rushing out of the house. As a result of this pathetic situation, the rescue operation could not achieve any positive result, because while they were struggling to put out the fire in the sitting room so as to gain entrance into the room where my children rushed into.Before the rescue operation could get into the room, my children they had already suffocated and burnt nearly beyond recognition. My little boy, Muhammed, who was just four years old, died instantly, while Fatimah, seven and Abduljabar, 6, died later, he lamented.Hajara, his wife, he said, was still on admission in the hospital while his brother, Umar and Muhammad Sanni, had been discharged.I learnt that the sad incident occurred when one of them was pouring kerosene into a lantern that was already lit. Unknown to him, the kerosene that I bought was adulterated and within a short period, the lantern exploded.With the present situation, there is nothing I can do but to accept all that happened to me as the wish of Allah, because this is a pathetic situation to me and my family, Mallam Bashir said.He thanked all the people that rallied round him during the sad incident, especially Alhaji Ahmad Ibrahim Yakasai, who he said not only came to the hospital to condole with him, but also paid the hospital bills.When the Nigerian Tribune spoke with the kerosene seller, one Sale, he said that he was not aware that the kerosene was adulterated. I could not sleep throughout the night. I have been in the business for many years and this kind of ugly situation has never happened to me in life, he said.Many people that were interviewed over the sad incident, called on the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, find a lasting solution to the kerosene scarcity, because some greedy people in the society were capitalising on it to enrich themselves, to the detriment of innocent citizens, by adulterating the product. They called on the government to come to the aid of the masses and ensure that the scarcity of products that have a direct impact on the immediate society, are made readily available, to avoid cases such as Mallam bashirs. However, Bashir, from his words, may have resigned to fate but the question is, how many more haveto die before the issue of fuel scarcity becomes a thing of the past.
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