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Ministers of Information, Humanitarian Affairs visit scene of fuel tanker explosion
From John Adams, Minna
The federal government has directed the immediate transfer of victims of the Saturday fuel tanker explosion from Suleja General Hospital to tertiary health facilities to ensure proper medical care.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mallam Mohammed Idris, stated this on Sunday when he led a high-powered Federal Government delegation, which included the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, and some heads of agencies, to carry out an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and to condole with the government and people of Niger State over the tragic incident.
According to him, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is deeply saddened by what has happened. He asked us to come here to see the situation. We have just gone round the wards and we have seen those that are critically injured. One of them, unfortunately, passed on, and we were told that this is the eighth victim of the fire explosion that has just passed on today. What we are seeing is the dire need for emergency medical attention. The Minister of Health and the National Emergency Management Agency, as well as all agencies of government, will ensure that all these victims are immediately evacuated and taken to the Intensive Care Unit of the nearest available tertiary institutions,” he said.
He nonetheless commended the Niger State Government for its swift response to the incident, especially in providing emergency medical care.
The Minister expressed concern over the loss of approximately 265 lives in tanker explosions over the past five months across the country.
He also disclosed that the President has constituted a committee to investigate the root and immediate causes of these incidents and to recommend effective solutions to prevent future occurrences.
“The President is really saddened by what has happened and he is worried to the extent that he has said that a high-powered committee be set up to look into these incidents,” he added. “From September last year to this time, the country has witnessed four of these major incidents. The first one occurred between Ibadan and Ife, where a tanker exploded, and houses and cars were engulfed in fire. This was followed about a day later in Niger State, in Agaie, headquarters of Agaie Local Government Area, where about 48 persons lost their lives in 2024.
“Not long afterwards, on the 15th of October 2024, about 144 people also lost their lives in Jigawa State in a similar incident, and now, only yesterday, here at a junction, nearly 80 people lost their lives. If you put these figures together, you will see that over 265 people have so far lost their lives in this kind of incident. The government is very worried, and as a result of that, a committee has been set up comprising the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, and other critical stakeholders like NEMA, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Federal Road Safety Commission, NARTO, NUPENG, IPMAN, and all other stakeholders to come together to find the remote and immediate causes of this and how to prevent recurrence,” he added.
The Minister further stated that, in line with the recent presidential directive, the National Orientation Agency will intensify public awareness campaigns to educate citizens on the dangers of scooping petroleum products following fuel tanker accidents, in order to avert such incidents. He condemned the practice of individuals endangering their lives by attempting to scoop fuel from accident tankers, emphasising that such actions are unacceptable to the government.
The delegation had earlier paid a condolence visit to the Emir of Suleja, Alhaji Auwal Ibrahim, and also visited victims of the inferno in Suleja General Hospital as well as the scene of the incident.