The Ibadan explosion

ON Monday, the Federal Government indicated that it would make public the report of the forensic analysis and investigation into the January 16 explosion in Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State. Speaking during a courtesy call on Governor Seyi Makinde at the Governor’s Office in Ibadan, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr. Dele Alake, said the report was not the kind that the government could dilly-dally on. He said: “The government will not sit on any honest report or investigative analysis. Whatever the report says, it will be meticulous, authenticated and efficiently implemented. In the end, justice will be done, not just to the victims but to the perpetrators, culprits, and whatever assistance that needs to be given to the Oyo State government, the president won’t hesitate to provide.” Also speaking on the occasion, Governor Makinde indicated that a lot still needed to be done to conclude the ongoing investigation, adding that forensic pathologists were continuing their investigation into the incident while security agencies and other agencies continued to secure the site.

The explosion that rocked Dejo Oyelese street, Adeyi Avenue in the Bodija area of Ibadan was indeed earth-shattering. Residents of the area recalled hearing terrible sounds for a considerable length of time and the effects of the blasts were felt as far as Ologuneru, New Garage, Apata, Ring Road, Basorun, Ojo, Akobo, Sango, Eleyele and Imalefalafia areas of the city. Thousands of residents were rendered homeless and over 200 houses completely or partially damaged. Five persons have so far been confirmed dead. According to the Oyo State governor, preliminary investigations traced the blast to the storage of explosives by illegal miners at a house on Dejo Oyelese Street. Some 77 persons were immediately confirmed injured and ferried to hospitals as the street lay in a pile of rubble. Ceilings, even in houses on adjoining streets, caved in as shrill cries rent the air, sending first responders into panic mode as they battled to extricate bodies from the rubble. The Oyo State government immediately established an Emergency Situation Room to facilitate swift assistance for survivors and victims of the explosion even as it emerged that the affected houses were mainly occupied by elderly persons between the ages of 60 and 90.

Governor Makinde would later disclose that a structural integrity test had been conducted on the 230 houses affected by the explosion. Speaking at the Nigerian Society of Engineers investiture ceremony in Abuja, Makinde noted that the test included plans to resettle affected residents and avert a possible collapse of buildings. Members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, he said, were carrying out structural integrity tests on 13 houses within 50 metres radius of the blast site, 40 houses at 100 metres radius; 122 houses at 200 metres radius and 53 houses within a 250 metres radius. The Federal Government also constituted a committee to review the laws guiding the control of explosives in the country.

We commiserate with the families of the victims and wish the survivors a speedy recovery. This is indeed a very unfortunate event that could have been prevented: the blast speaks to a failure of governance and security. Both illegal mining and the storage of explosives in residential areas are crimes and in this case, it is unfortunate that the perpetrators, enabled by federal law which takes minerals extraction completely out of the jurisdiction of the states, were able to inflict so much damage on life and property. Besides, Nigerians need to know how the perpetrators managed to beat the checkpoints manned by security agencies in the area. At the moment, most residents of the affected areas remain homeless, temporarily lodged in hotels, and conservative estimates from estate valuers indicate that properties in the region of N50 billion may have been lost to the explosion.

It ought to be clear that the extant laws which, as it were, cripple the states in terms of the licensing and control of miners need to be reviewed, along with the overly centralised security architecture. The Federal Government must work with the states not just to ensure justice for the victims in this case but to address legal and institutional issues surrounding mining across the country. No one should ever again be given the latitude to wreck lives and properties in the way the Bodija culprits have done. The explosion was a monumental disaster, especially for those who became victims due to no fault of theirs beyond being within the vicinity of the blasts. It is gratifying that the Oyo State government has picked up the hospital, accommodation and other living expenses of those impacted by the tragedy. It has led to a commendable response that helped mitigate the consequences of the blasts and has also provided timely updates on the incident even as investigations continue. It has a bounden duty to work with the Federal Government and the security agencies and ensure that illegal miners and whatever set of criminals may eventually be implicated in the Bodija tragedy do not have an opportunity to repeat their crime.

Ordinarily, the added cost of restituting all the losses, outside of life which is irreplaceable, ought to be borne by those responsible for the disaster in the first place. Yet it is clear that it would be virtually impossible for those responsible to be able to replace all losses when painstakingly identified because they are ordinary people who are going to be limited in terms of what they can cough up. The government should, therefore, be able to work out a way to help the victims pick up their lives in a reasonable way, including, if possible, helping to rebuild the houses that have been destroyed. It should also work hard at ensuring that such tragedies do not recur, and that the perpetrators of the tragedy pay heavily for their crime.

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