By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
President of Bodija Estate Residents Association,(BERA), Mr Muyiwa Bamgbose on Wednesday, said about nine residents of the area are still missing .
Speaking with journalists in Ibadan on the January 17 explosions on the sidelines of Face-to-face Consultative Forum, organized by Bodija residents, he said the declaration was based on their findings while collecting data of the residents and number of the affected houses with the explosions
According to the BERA President, ” It’s now more towards eight or nine people that have been missing. We have brought the map of the street, and we are trying to account for house by house, that’s how we can actually get accurate figure”.
He stressed, ” If a person was seen yesterday and you can’t find him today, then you know you need to get worried”.
Commenting on the treatment received by victims of the incident at different hospitals, Mr Bamgbose disclosed that “a lot of people paid for their medicals”, adding, “Those people could afford it. So, many people didn’t even go to designated hospitals, they just went somewhere to treat themselves” .
” I must also confess that some of the hospitals were treating people initially without even recording, there are so many people, they were just giving them first aids”, he said
Mr Bamgbose added, ” The hospitals contributed, they treated people without asking for money and then some people that could afford them took themselves somewhere, maybe private hospitals”.
” In terms of hotels, there are some people whose their families paid in the hotels and asked them just go there and check yourself in, because there isn’t proper organization”.
He noted, ” If you are a decent person and they tell you that the government is going to pay for your accommodation. Our fear is that even government may end up been sub changed, how do you know who stay where?
” Yes, it was a chaotic situation but again there should be some kind of order and process, so that’s why some people will not wait for anybody, they just take care of themselves if they can afford it. A lot of people have taken care of themselves.”
Lauding the Oyo state government, he said ” Well, this is a first time that we will record this kind of incident in Oyo State, we never had anything like this before and I must first and foremost appreciate the spirit of the government”.
According to him, ” The government is definitely concerned, there is a difference between the will and ability but if you are willing then ability can come in later.”
“The administration in the state has shown a great of willingness, people have worked overnight without sleeping, even the Federal Government, you will be surprised, they have taken it so seriously, all the security apparatus, NEMA, working with the state EMA, everybody has collaborated
” I think we still need to learn from this experience where are we failing one of the things I discussed in Bodija is where are the gaps? What are the things we didn’t do right that we can improve? God for his, we are praying for another one to happen, but it may not be a blast, it may be another thing, emergencies can always occur, it could flood or whatever. So, how do we response to emergencies?
