The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) has announced that more deaths have been recorded following the petroleum tanker explosion that occurred over the weekend at Dikko Junction, Abuja-Kaduna Express Way, in Gurara Local Council of the state.
According to a statement by the Director General of the agency, Abdullahi Baba Arah, in Minna yesterday, 12 more victims have died as a result of various degrees of burns where they were receiving medical attention.
Baba Arah explained that the agency received the news of their death at about noon yesterday, raising the death toll to 98. He also hinted that the number of injured victims has risen from 55 to 69, adding that no fewer than 20 shops were also affected by the inferno.
The NSEMA boss, however, assured that the agency is doing all it can to provide needed support to other injured victims.
MEANWHILE, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, has expressed his condolences to the Niger State government and families of the over persons who lost their lives during the incident on Saturday.
While wishing injured people speedy recovery, Abdullahi praised the efforts of various emergency responders in evacuating the injured and de-escalating the inferno’s spread.
The minister of state expressed deep sadness over the recurrent incidents of fuel tanker crashes on highways, with the resultant human casualties, severe injuries and destruction of properties. He recalled that barely four months ago, in September 2024, a fuel tanker crashed, claiming many lives on Agaie-Lapai Road, also in Niger State.
“Sorrow should not be our routine experience over frequent fuel tanker crashes on our roads. Scores are often killed in these incidents, and the spectacle of mass burial of the victims, burnt beyond recognition, is a wake-up call to all stakeholders to avert these types of occurrences,” the minister of state said in a statement.
Abdullahi, an indigene of Niger State, noted that as a bridge between the Northern and Southern parts of the country, Niger State takes a heavy burden of axial load of haulage trucks.
He commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, for the renewed commitment to complete the reconstruction, within the next 14 months, of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano dual carriageway, which passes through Niger State.
