THE federal government has ordered the immediate transfer of victims of the recent tanker explosion in Suleja, Niger state, from the General Hospital to tertiary health facilities to ensure they receive advanced medical care.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, made this known during a visit to Suleja, Niger State. He led a high-level federal delegation, including the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, and heads of relevant agencies, to assess the situation firsthand and express condolences to the government and people of Niger State.
In a statement, Idris conveyed President Bola Tinubu’s deep sorrow over the tragic incident, which occurred along Dikko Junction in Suleja.
“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 very critically injured and as we are visiting, 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 and what we are seeing is the dire need of emergency medical attention, which the federal government is taking.
“The Minister of Heath and the National Emergency Management Agency and all agencies of government will ensure that all these victims are immediately evacuated and taken to the Intensive Care Unit of the immediate available tertiary institutions,” he said.
Idris commended the Niger State Government for its swift response to the incident, especially in the provision of emergency medical response.
The Minister expressed concern over the loss of approximately 265 lives to tanker explosions in the past five months.
He revealed 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 is set up to look at this incidences. From September last year to this time, we had four of this major incidences. We had the first one between Ibadan and Ife where a tanker exploded and houses and cars were engulfed in fire and about a day after, here in Niger State in Agaie, about 48 persons lost their lives. This is on the eighth of September, 2024.
“Not long afterwards, on the 15th of October, again in 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 this 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, set up a committee comprising the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, other critical stakeholders like NEMA, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Standard 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 avoid recurrence,” he said.
The Minister 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 to avert such incidents.
He condemned the practice of individuals endangering their lives by attempting to scoop fuel from accident tankers, emphasizing that such actions are unacceptable to the government.
The delegation earlier paid a condolence visit to the Emir of Suleija, Alhaji Auwal Ibrahim and also visited victims of the inferno in the Suleija General Hospital as well as the scene of the incident.
Other members of the delegation are the Directors General of the Nigerian Television Authority, Comrade Abdulhamid Dembos, Voice of Nigeria, Mallam Jibrin Baba Ndace and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Dr. Mohammed Bulama.