The Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Ramatu Aliyu has urged residents in the territory to report illegal distributors of petrol, Kerosene and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) to the appropriate authorities.
The Minister gave the advice on Saturday at the scene of the Kubwa Market fire while sympathising with the victims and residents.
The fire incident which occurred on Friday evening has left no fewer than six people dead, many suffering various degrees of burns and other injuries, as well as loss of properties.
The minister said that the likely cause of fire will be investigated as well as if the distributors were licensed to operate.
“Report anyone selling any flammable material near you- either gas, fuel, or kerosene.
“Report anyone that is not a legalised distributor of flammable materials or chemicals as there are depots made for things like this.
“There are assigned gas depots across the FCT and the FG is still making more efforts to give us more gas plants.
“Natural disasters can occur anywhere but gas depots, most times, are kept away from humans.”
She appealed to FCT residents and members of the Kubwa community to be more law-abiding.
“This laws are made to protect us; no matter the impact of the law.
“When we feel we are being suppressed, what it is meant to prevent might be worse when it occurs.
“When we send development control, you will be aggrieved and feel it is an infringement on your fundamental human rights.
“But these laws are to protect; the dangers would have been worse than the impact of these laws.
“We are lucky there was prompt support and response of the Federal and FCT Fire Services.”
She frowned at the presence of fuel tankers directly under a transformer.
“As we speak, there are more tanks seen with kerosene; God forbid, if we had that much ripple effect, it would have been simultaneous and we would have lost more lives and properties in this hard time.
“For instance this a tank, near a high tension wire, transformer and should there be a spark, it would be a ripple effect that will destroy thousands.”
The minister commended members of the public for being calm as she described the incident as ‘disheartening’.
“It is disheartening when we lose loved ones and family; it is more disheartening when we have to visit them in pain and even bury our loved ones or see them deformed.
“We bear this pain with the families, we feel with them and May the souls of the departed Rest In Peace,” Aliyu prayed.
The Minister had visited the Emergency Response Unit and Mortuary of the Kubwa general hospital to ascertain the information given to her.
Briefing the minister, Mr. Muhideen Lasisi, Chief Medical Director of Kubwa General Hospital, confirmed that the hospital recorded five deaths and eleven people with body burns.
“The hospital, in synergy with the government and security agencies in response to the incident, displayed an uncommon example of ‘service to the people.
“We have eleven living and five dead bodies brought to this hospital.
“The Minister has shown willingness and commitment to bear the cost of the service,” he said.
Meanwhile, some victims of Friday’s fire incident, which occurred in the Kubwa village market, have urged relevant authorities to come to their aid.
Some of the victims who recounted the ordeal said they were saddened by the incident.
Mr. Obinna Fidelis, who lost two daughters while his wife has been hospitalised for severe burns, said he heard a loud sound and then saw the fire.
“No one really knows the cause of the fire as there was no light in the area when the fire outbreak occurred.
“There was no light; no cooking or frying around; all we heard was an explosion.
“I lost two of my daughters, by the name Chioma and Angel.
“My wife sells foodstuff around here and she is presently hospitalised in the National hospital with serious burns.
“The doctor told us nothing will happen to my wife, but that the injuries are too much; it’s all over her body except her breast, ” he said.
Another Victim, Queen Bulus who sustained injuries to her hand, said she got injured when one of the electricity cables snapped from the pole during the fire and burnt her.
“I was sitting and selling plantain, then the wires sparked and suddenly one of the wires from the electricity pole cut and burnt me.
“All I can remember is that I ran away, through the back, to my house and left everything I was selling, which later burnt to ashes.
“My mother took me to the hospital and I thank God I was attended to on time,” Bulus said.
An eye witness, Aliyu Ibrahim, said many victims who suffered various degrees of burns did not get immediate medical attention.
“The delay to the initial refusal of nearby hospitals to attend to them because they were not accompanied by the police.
“One of the patients was taken to three different hospitals because he was refused treatment initially,” he said.
However, another eyewitness, Chukwudi Agu commended the response in time of the fire service and other security agencies.
“The fire service really did well because if not for them, all these buildings here would have gone down as the level of fire here was something else.
“I really thank God they responded on time unlike before; I have never seen them perform that way; I give kudos to them,” Agu said.
One of the family members of one of the hospitalised victims sought the intervention of the Bwari Area Council Chairman, Mr. John Gabaya, to facilitate the medical treatment of her ward.
She said that the boy had been admitted in Garki General Hospital, and N500,000 is needed to commence treatment, which she doesn’t have.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
Latest posts by Hassan Umar Shallpella (Regional Correspondent) (see all)
previous
N1, 000, N500 Denominations Constitutes Bulk Of Counterfeited Banknotes-CBN
next
