Women now sleep at fuel stations to get kerosine in Bayelsa

Women, nursing mothers and pregnant women who kept vigil searching for kerosene at a mega station owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.Most of these nursing mothers have turned the filling station to their homes as they spent nights in an open space around the area despite the harsh weather.The women, who decried their experience, depended on food vendors for feeding in the rowdy station located on the Sanni Abacha Expressway, Yenagoa.

It was also found that most of the women who risked their lives and those of their unborn babies and little babies were merely looking for the product to enable them to prepare food for their families especially as other alternatives of cooking like firewood were lacking in the state.


It was observed that there might be no end to the plight of the people of the state, as the mega station did not have enough of the product to go round the teeming population of buyers.

The premises of the station was gradually looking like a refugee camp attracting different forms of business transaction.

There were also fears of possible increase in malaria attacks as the women exposed themselves and their children to mosquito bites.

While some food vendors were seen emptying their containers, others who deal in provisions were seen setting up their stands to make brisk sales.

Some of the women, who spent the night at the mega station, could not buy the product despite their efforts, as the management of the station announced that Monday was set aside to attend to security personnel.

Other civilian buyers were advised to go home and create a space to enable police officers, soldiers and other paramilitary agents to buy the product.

Further investigations by our correspondent showed that most filling stations operated by independent marketers did not have the product while few sold it at exorbitant prices.

A woman, who identified herself simply as Priye, told our correspondent that she had not been able to buy the product despite staying in the station for two days with her one-month-old baby.

The woman, who looked depressed, said she wanted the product to enable her to prepare food for her family, lamenting that cooking had become impossible without kerosene.

She wondered why the government had subjected the masses to hardship, regretting that despite the resources in the country the government had not been able to tackle the fundamental needs of the poor.

“This is frustrating. How can we be producing a product and still experience this level of scarcity?” she queried, insisting that she must go home with the product.

Though efforts to speak to the manager of the station yielded no result, an employee, who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, claimed that people were attracted to the station due to the price of the product.

He confirmed that Monday was a special day to allow security agents access to buy the product insisting that the product would not be sold to civilians.He, however, claimed that the station had been receiving regular supply of the product, adding that most of the women were only buying the product for resale.