Following the explosion at a residential area in Ibadan and directive by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu activating the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide appropriate emergency response, NEMA’s Director General, Mustapha Habib Ahmed visited the site and hospital where some of the injured victims were receiving treatment.
The NEMA DG was at the site with the Governor of Oyo State Mr Seyi Makinde and his Deputy Mr Adebayo Adeleke Lawal, Director Search and Rescue NEMA, Air Commodore Kannedy Mataluwo, where search and rescue operations are still on-going to remove debris from collapsed structures.
The NEMA Director General said the Federal Government was seriously concerned about the sad incident and committed to providing necessary basic support to cushion the impacts of the disaster.
While commiserating with the Oyo State Government and families that were affected by the disaster, he assured that Agency would work with the State Government to provide necessary succor to alleviate their hardship.
The DG NEMA further said that he had deployed an additional search and rescue team from the Agency’s Lagos Office to support the officers in Ibadan and other stakeholders to expedite the operations to ascertain that nobody is left under the debris.
He advised the public not to store highly hazardous industrial substances and materials in residential areas and said suspected unauthorized storage of these should be reported to appropriate authorities for necessary actions to safeguard lives and property.
The Governor of Oyo State, Mr Makinde appreciated the swift response of the Federal Government through NEMA in coming to support the state government over the incident.
He called on security operatives to secure the site and control access not to interfere with the on-going search and rescue operations.
After the site inspection, the Director General of NEMA was at the Incident Command Centre opened at the State Ministry of Housing to coordinate the response efforts where he held discussions with the State Governor and his Deputy.
Thereafter, he visited some of the injured victims of the explosions that were receiving treatment at Redeemer Hospital.
Recall that on Tuesday, 16th January, 2024 there was an explosion from a suspected IED stored in a house on Rev Aderimola Street inside Bodija Estate in Adeyi Area of Ibadan.
The explosion resulted in some deaths, injuries and affected many houses, cars and other property.
