FG orders evacuation of Niger tanker explosion victims to tertiary medical centres

The Federal Government has directed the immediate transfer of victims of the recent tanker explosion from Suleija General Hospital to tertiary health facilities to ensure they receive prompt and enhanced medical care.

Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has constituted a committee to investigate the root and immediate causes of these incidents and to recommend effective solutions to prevent future occurrences.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced this on Sunday when he led a high-powered Federal Government delegation, including the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, and some heads of agencies, to carry out an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and also condole with the government and people of Niger State over the recent tanker explosion along Dikko Junction in Suleija.

Idris expressed concern over the loss of approximately 265 lives to tanker explosions in the past five months.

He said, “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 around the wards and seen those who are very critically injured, and as we were visiting, one of them unfortunately passed on. We were told that this is the eighth victim of the fire explosion who passed on today, and what we are seeing is the dire need for emergency medical attention, which the Federal Government is addressing.

“The Minister of Health, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and all agencies of government will ensure that all these victims are immediately evacuated and taken to the Intensive Care Unit of the nearest 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 assistance.

“The President is really saddened by what has happened and he is worried to the extent that he has said a high-powered committee is set up to look into these incidents. From September last year to this time, we have had four of these major incidents. 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 later, in Niger State, in Agaie, about 48 persons lost their lives. This was on the eighth of September, 2024.

“Not long afterwards, on the 15th of October, 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 these figures together, you will see that over 265 people have so far lost their lives in such incidents. The Government is very worried, and as a result, has set up a committee comprising the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, the 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 root 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, stressing 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 include the Directors-General of the Nigerian Television Authority, Comrade Abdulhamid Dembos, Voice of Nigeria, Mallam Jibrin Baba Ndace, and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Dr. Mohammed Bulama.