As the price of a barrel of light sweet crude rises to $102 per barrel, one would perceive Nigeria to be a wealthy nation. Paradoxically, as the oil boom created unbelievable revenue in the 1970’s for Africa’s largest nation, the agricultural sector was forgotten. Unfortunately, the advent of oil revenue created an economy that is solely dependent on one commodity. Some sociologists even contend that Nigeria’s economy would be more buoyant if crude had never been unearthed. Several criminologists even argue that Nigeria’s oil has created a nation of beggars waiting to get their share of the “national cake.”
At 5AM this morning, we woke up to cries from one of our neighbors that could only result from one event: death. We have been accustomed to the pre-dawn “asubahi” call emanating from the mosque entreating Muslims to prayer. Yet, our neighbor’s weeping from the loss of loved ones combined with the call to prayer was surreal. When daylight came we began to inquire about the identity of the deceased. We then learned that the younger brother of our neighbor had died due to horrific burns suffered from a deadly combination: an open fire and a plastic gasoline can.
In February, Dave Goolsby and Randall McAdams were horrified one day when one discovered a small leak from a plastic gasoline line under my vehicle. Only God knows how long I had been driving with this tiny leak but I knew that I was losing fuel more than usual. Nevertheless, Nigeria is a society that lives “on the edge” with otherwise jobless young men selling gasoline in plastic containers at every corner. Most Nigerians cannot afford to cook with diesel, gasoline, kerosene, or propane making firewood the cooking fuel of choice. However, cooking fires at roadside restaurants are often located near young men selling gasoline from plastic bottles.
We later gathered that our neighbor’s younger brother also suffered these burns with 4 others in their hometown of Gwoza in Southern Borno State. This had occurred a couple of days ago but the younger brother and one other burn victim passed away this morning. “Safety first” is regrettably not an esteemed societal virtue in Africa like it is in North America. When most people in a nation are simply struggling to survive on a daily $1, safety issues become less prominent. Survival creates an attitude where people are absolutely unaware of the risks to which they are being exposed because they are simply trying to keep their families from starving.
Ultimately at INTERCEP, we believe that we are offering the indigenes of northern Nigeria the greatest blessing in hope after death and self-help opportunities to generate family income. We are committed to avoiding diesel, gasoline, kerosene, or propane powered units at our drip irrigation farm. The Almighty has given us the multiple blessings of sunlight, wind, rainfall, soil, and animals that we hope to maximize. The global “green” agenda is not necessarily our mission; however, we hope to model an agricultural operation unadulterated by global “crude” domination. Using God-given resources, we hope to point people to the ultimate resource for abundant life.
Randall McAdams sipping Dew at a gas station.
Road Side Vegetable Stands
