Fuel, Fear, and Failing Roads: Warri-Sapele and Shagwolor axis near explosion point

In the Shagwolor axis of Warri, a disaster is quietly brewing. Locals call it “Refinery Road,” but for those who live and work near it, the name has taken on a grim new meaning: a high-risk death trap hiding in plain sight.

Cracked, cratered, and choked with erosion, this crucial road linking the Warri Refinery, NNPC Pipelines, Gas Resources Corporation, and Matrix Energy Depot and other petrol and gas stations has become a hazard zone. Fuel tankers, motorcycles, and commuters weave dangerously through its decaying stretches, as each trip teeters on the edge of catastrophe.

"If a tanker falls here, it could wipe out everything,” warns Doris Ufuoma, an electronics shop owner whose business sits just meters from the road. “We live in fear, every single day.”

Refinery Road isn’t just damaged it’s a volatile intersection of lives, livelihoods, and highly flammable materials. On both sides of the route are filling stations, warehouses, stores, homes, and places of worship. The daily passage of fuel tankers, some carrying thousands of litres of petroleum products, creates a deadly mix. A single slip, a minor collision, or an ill-timed pothole could trigger a chain reaction of fire, explosions, and devastation.

“A wrong turn or fall, and the whole area could go up in flames,” said a pipeline technician who commutes through the route. “This is not just poor infrastructure it’s a mass casualty event waiting to happen.”

Despite the obvious threat, which is the deplorable state of the road in a crucial and very significant location,  authorities have remained silent.

Each rainfall deepens the destruction. What begins as potholes quickly becomes full-blown trenches. Cars break down mid-road. Pedestrians slog through pools of stagnant, murky water. Shops sit empty. Appointments get cancelled. Delivery trucks avoid the area altogether.

“The road eats our cars,” says Emeka, a tricycle driver. “I spend more on repairs than I earn. Every week it’s something shock absorbers, tyres, alignment.”

Businesses in the area are bleeding. With foot traffic drying up and fear setting in, small shops and local vendors are watching their income disappear.

“People are scared to come here now,” says Mrs Doris Ufuoma. “It’s no longer just bad for business it’s dangerous to even show up because of how bad and dangerous the road is.”

Not far away, Warri-Sapele Road tells a similar story. Choked with fuel tankers and gridlocked cars, it has become another pressure cooker. Motorists recount spending days stuck on route. Tankers and vehicles jostle for space. Tricycles idle without passengers. Stranded commuters walk long distances, vulnerable to robbery, accidents or worse, an explosion.

“If a tanker falls here, it won’t just burn one car,” said a road user. “It could take out an entire neighborhood, community, businesses and not to mention lots of lives.”

Locals warn that without urgent intervention, both roads risk turning into the scene of a mass tragedy. The conditions, they say, are not just inconvenient they are inhumane.

What residents are asking for isn’t luxury or beautification. It’s survival. “Fix the road before it kills us,” pleads road users. “We don’t want sympathy after an explosion. We need action now.”

So far, no meaningful repairs or interventions have come from the Delta State Government, the Federal Ministry of Works, or any of the oil and gas companies who rely on these roads daily. The silence, residents say, is not just disappointing it’s dangerous.

Refinery Road has gone beyond neglect. It’s become a crisis corridor. Every fuel truck that passes inches closer to disaster. Every pothole left unattended chips away at the fragile line between life and loss.

“We don’t want headlines reading, ‘Explosion in Warri: Dozens Dead,’” says one resident. “We want headlines that say, ‘Disaster Averted.’ But for that to happen, both the state and federal government has to act now.”