The Lagos State Governor,
Babajide Sanwo-Olu said due to the explosion at Abule Ado area of the Lagos state
he had never seen anything of this magnitude of devastation before.
Speaking when he visited
Abule Ado on Monday morning, Sanwo-Olu said: “I must confess that I’ve never
seen anything of this magnitude before. I mean, it’s like a war zone; it is
rather very unfortunate that as a people, we have to come this far for us to meet
their needs.
“Let me on behalf of the
government and people of Lagos State express our condolences to the families
that have lost their loved ones, to the children that lost their teacher, to
everyone in this neighbourhood that has lost one person or the other,” he said.
He said: “On behalf of the
Government, I commiserate with families that lost their loved ones, students
that lost their teacher and everyone in this neighbourhood who lost their means
of livelihood. My visit to the scene of the explosion this morning is not to
apportion blame for the sad incident.
“We want to first express
condolences to the families of our citizens that have lost their lives, and all
our citizens that have their properties and good destroyed extensively. I
confess I have never seen any destruction of this magnitude before in the
State. It is rather unfortunate.
“As a responsible
government, we are immediately setting up a fact-finding mission as to the
remote cause of this incident. We are setting up a panel that will start work
from today and will need to give us a report in the next two weeks. It is an
inter-governmental and multi-sectoral committee that will be headed by the
Deputy Governor and Commissioner for Special Duties as co-chairman.”
Other members of the committee,
according to Sanwo-Olu, include Commissioner for Education, her counterparts in
Finance, Physical Planning, and Environment, Permanent Secretaries of the
ministries of Health, Works and Infrastructure, Commissioner of Police, and
Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security.
Others are Chairman of
Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, representatives of Community Development
Association (CDA) and Community Development Committee (CDC), representative of
Bethlehem Girls College, representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC),
National Emergency
Management Authority (NEMA) and representative of the host community.
Sanwo-Olu described the
level destruction in Abule Ado and Ado Soba as “monumental”, saying the
resources to be appropriated in helping the victims to rebuild their lives were
beyond what a single Government could undertake on its own.
He said: “The process of
rebuilding this place is beyond what the Government, either at the national
level or state, can also undertake on its own. Given the level of destruction,
I am immediately setting up what I have called an Abule Ado/Ado Soba Emergency
Relief Fund. It is a N2 billion relief fund and the state government will
immediately be putting N250 million in that fund. Three banks have opened
accounts for the Fund.
“Setting up this Fund is to
give everybody the opportunity to be part of rebuilding this place and to be
able to donate into it. The utilisation of funds, which will be headed by the
Deputy Governor, will also be part of the responsibility that the fact-finding
committee will be saddled with. To show our commitment to helping the victims
recover, we have three bank account numbers already.
“Polaris Bank with the
account number 4030017510, and name Abule Ado Emergency Relief Fund. Also,
Zenith Bank, with the same account name the account number 1017184516 and
Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank, with account number 0568615688. Well-meaning
Nigerians and corporate organisations that wish to support us on this journey
have any of these three banks to donate.”
The relief funds, Sanwo-Olu
said, would help the Lagos Government to offset the victims’ medical bills and
re-settle displaced people before rebuilding activities start.
Sanwo-Olu said he would be
meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari later on Monday to brief him on the
incident, stressing that Lagos required the cooperation and support of the
Federal Government in dealing with the situation.
The Governor also ordered
Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to commence immediate clean-up
of the explosion site.
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