FG directs transfer of tanker explosion survivors to tertiary medical facilities

FG directs transfer of tanker explosion survivors to tertiary medical facilities

The federal government has directed that the survivors of
the recent tanker explosion in Niger state be transferred to tertiary
healthcare facilities.

 

Mohammed Idris, minister of information and national
orientation, announced the directive on Sunday when he led a delegation to
assess the scene of the explosion in Suleja.

 

Rabiu Ibrahim, the special assistant on media to Idris, said
Nentawe Yilwatda, the minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation,
and some heads of agencies were part of the delegation.

 

Idris cited prompt and enhanced medical care as reasons for
transferring the survivors from the Suleja General Hospital.



“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is deeply saddened by what has
happened. He asked us to come here to see the situation,” the statement quoted
the minister as saying.

 

“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 health 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.”

 

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Idris commended the Niger state government for its swift
response to the incident, especially in the provision of emergency medical
response.

 

The minister also expressed concern over the loss of some
265 lives to tanker explosions in the past five months.

 

“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 these incidences,” he said.

 

“From September last year to this time, we had four of these
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 these 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, it
set up a committee comprising the Ministry of Information and National
Orientation, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, and other critical
stakeholders like NEMA, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission,
the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, the 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.”

 

The minister said the National Orientation Agency (NOA) will
also intensify public awareness campaigns to educate citizens on the dangers of
scooping petroleum products following fuel tanker accidents to avert such
incidents.

Source: FG directs transfer of tanker explosion survivors to tertiary medical facilities

 - NigerianEye
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