The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has set up a committee to review the laws guiding the control of explosives in the country to determine whether they might have been violated by illegal miners in Ibadan leading to the deadly blast.
The council presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, expressed worries about the incident and noted the need to avert future occurrences.
Minister of Defence, Abubakar Bagudu, who disclosed this to correspondents at the end of the council meeting, noted that despite preliminary investigations suggesting that explosives stored by illegal miners may be the cause, there was also suspicion in some quarters that gas may have been to blame.
He noted that federal agents were now on ground at the scene of the incident to ascertain the cause and ways to prevent future occurrences.
Responding to questions on the issue, he said: “The first question has to do with Ibadan explosion where the governor said that preliminary investigation suggested that there are some explosives around the area where it happened that are owned by some illegal miners.
“Well, we have seen that report. There is another report suggesting that it was a gas explosion. So, our team is there trying to find out what is the cause.
“But for the council to be proactive, it has already set up the committee that I told you to look into how the control of explosives law was broken if indeed there are explosives around the area where this incident happened.
“That was why the committee was set up to look at the rules to see where the chain is broken and see how it can be fixed and gather more information if this is happening rampantly around the country.
“You all know that there is strict rule in the storage, movement and ownership of these explosives and the rule is being monitored. If there is any case of breakdown, we will find out and deal with it.”
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE