Madalla: Don't Leave Us Out of Compensation Package, Property Owners Cry Out

Written by This Day Wednesday, 22 February 2012

Worried by the seeming neglect of their cases, those who suffered property loss during the Christmas day bombing in Madalla, Niger State, have cried out and demanded that they too deserve compensation.

They complained that despite the tonnes of promises by top government sympathisers to assist them get back the rhythm of their lives, nothing has been done to assist them in putting together the pieces of their shattered homes.

The visit of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and his team to St. Theresa’s Catholic Church blast victims in Madalla, Niger State provided the opportunity for this category of victims to ask that they too should be remembered along with families of those who suffered fatalities.

They lamented that their properties like shops, houses and offices were also affected by the bomb blast, but had not received any form of compensation before the visit of the CBN team. The blast occurred on December 25, last year.
The property owners grumbled that they had been sidelined despite promises and donations made in their name, yet nothing had reached them.

One of them, Mr. Austin Eze Ike, who spoke to THISDAY, said his three corner shops, a one-bedroom flat and a two-bedroom flat were destroyed by the blast.

They recall that high profile government officials including President Goodluck Jonathan; the Niger State Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu; Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro; and other Nigerians have visited, inspected the damages they suffered and made promises, but nothing had been done to alleviate their sufferings since the incident. Many of them have remained homeless since then.

Ike lamented: “After the blast, we were informed the leadership of the church asked us to produce variations for the damages done on our property, which we did.

“Every dignitary that visited this place and was taken around our properties, promised that we will be duly compensated but all we have witnessed is the sharing of cheques to families of the deceased and the injured while some of us have been left homeless and some of our business premises shut down for this period.”

Also speaking, Mr Emmanuel Ehikwe, one of the property owners, wondered why they were left out of the donations by the state government and other donors who had visited, adding that they are equally Nigerians who were devastated by the explosion.
He said what baffled them most was when they read in the papers that the Niger State government had disbursed N150 million to the victims of the blasts whereas nothing has reached those whose property around the church were damaged.

“At the end of the day, we are wondering why we were excluded from all the donations both from the government, Governor Godswill Akpabio who gave N50 million and others because we also suffered losses and expected that we were going to partake in the donations.

“Some of us have been in this town for years and have contributed to the development of this town and state by paying our taxes so we should be treated better than we are being treated,” Ehikwe said.

According to Ike who along with 29 others had their buildings destroyed, they rushed to the St. Theresa’s Catholic Church premises when they heard of the CBN governor’s visit. They expressed hope that the latest gesture would get to them.
He noted that when they approached the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), they were told to wait for National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), adding that when NEMA eventually came, they came with what he described as inadequate and inappropriate materials.

“The materials NEMA brought are inadequate; they brought materials as if we were going to reconstruct village houses. Most of the houses that were destroyed by the impact of the blast are good structures and of good quality. What they brought here are things like blankets, nails, cement and some woods which were not used for the construction of most of the houses,” he said.

But NEMA spokesman, Mr. Yushau Shuaib, explained that the agency “is not a compensating agency. We are only meant to provide palliatives to victims as interim measures. But people are expecting that we donate money to them. This is not so. We are expected to respond quickly in providing immediate succour to victims of disasters, not rebuilding destroyed houses or things like that”.
The N25 million donated by the CBN was announced to be for “all those affected by the bomb blast”.

Sanusi said that the donation would have been made earlier but his schedule and that of the leadership of the church had always clashed causing postponements, adding that he insisted he had to be at the donation himself. Sanusi stated that other than the fact that he has respect for human lives and knows better than to play politics with it said he has had and still has affiliations with Christians and Catholics and therefore has no reason to bring sentiments into issues that have to do with human lives.

He further stated that money does not compensate for human lives or any of such tragedies but that it is the bank’s policy to be “our brother’s keeper”.  

Meanwhile, victims of the December 7, 20011 explosion which claimed many lives in Ori-Apata area of Kaduna metropolis yesterday denied claims by NEMA that relief materials were distributed to them.

Addressing a news conference yesterday in Kaduna, the victims of the blast who are mainly traders said since the incident, they were left to their fate, adding that they had been managing to survive through the good will of friends and their relations.

“Our main reason for convening this press briefing is to let people know about our plight and also refute reports in some national newspapers that NEMA assisted us with relief materials whereas we have not received any relief material from the agency.

“Till today, no building or relief materials was given to the 38 victims of the incidents to cushion its effect. Twelve people died as a result of the explosion and they have been buried and up till today, none of their family members has been visited by any government official or compensated,” Uzochukwu said.

He stated further that Kaduna State Governor, Mr. Patrick Yakowa, who promised to assist the victims during his visit to the scene of the incident, was yet to fulfil his promise.

Uzochukwu, who said they had made several efforts to see the governor without success, appealed to him to come to the aid of the victims of the incident to ameliorate their sufferings.

But the NEMA Zonal Coordinator in Kaduna, Mallam Musa Illanah, explained that some items were actually approved for the victims but that none of the items was available at the Kaduna warehouse.
“We are waiting to get all the items complete before distributing them to the victims” he said.

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