As victims count their losses from Tuesday’s explosion that shattered the serenity of Ibadan metropolis, there has been renewed calls for the review of activities of illegal miners in the country to checkmate the menace, particularly preventing the recurrence of such explosion.
The Guardian learnt that at least three lives were lost, with about 80 injured and scores of houses severely damaged. Unofficial sources said the casualties were more.
President Bola Tinubu had ordered the setting up of a committee to investigate the possible breach of explosive control laws in the country, and to bring perpetrators to book.
Urban Alert, a civic-tech, nongovernmental initiative, yesterday, noted that weak mining laws and the inadequacies that exist in Nigeria’s public institutions are responsible for the explosion that rocked Ibadan, the state capital of Oyo State on Tuesday.
The civic-tech nongovernmental organisation further noted that weak government agencies also open windows for illegalities and miners (licensed and illegal) that often exploit the system.
The NGO, in a statement signed by its Communications Associate, Titilade Alayande, said that the weak mining laws and the inadequacies that exist in Nigeria’s public institutions create a conducive environment for illegal mining and uncontrolled mining, leading to significant lapses in public safety.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents on the explosion after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the Minister of Defence, Abubakar Badaru, said the council has ordered an immediate investigation to unravel the immediate cause of the incident.
Badaru noted that despite preliminary investigations suggesting that explosives stored by illegal miners may be the cause, there was also suspicion in some quarters that the explosion could have been triggered by gas.
“But for the Council to be proactive, it has already set up the committee to look into how the control of explosives law was broken, if indeed there are explosives around the area where this incident happened.”
