A month after the fire disaster that engulfed a market in Onitsha, Anambra state in which goods worth billions of naira were lost, OKECHUKWU ONEGBU writes that victims are yet to get help.
Some of the traders affected by the fire incident in Anambra state tanker fire have lamented that the state government and indeed federal government and other individuals were yet to fulfill promises made to them.
The petrol tanker fire which gutted Ochanja market and Upper Iweka on Wednesday 16th October, 2019 had led to loss of lives and property worth billions of naira. Mrs Ifeoma Deborah Obi and her child Master Chisimdi Victory Obi were among those the inferno reduced to ashes on that day.
The disaster attracted sympatisers from the state government, federal government, politicians and non-governmental organisations who individually and collectively promised to assist the victims to bounce back to life and business.
Some like the senator who represents Anambra North Senatorial District, Stella Oduah, pledged to support the federal government’s fire service with fire trucks for the preventions of such incident in the future. There were those who assured victims of material help or to offset their medical bills in the hospital.
Governor Willie Obiano, as a result of the incident first asked victims to report to the Government House for documentation so as to assist them. Later, the governor told them to forget coming to Awka as he had constituted a committee headed by deputy governor, Dr Nkem Okeke, whose responsibility was to investigate the cause of the inferno and report back for urgent response from the state government.
The state government also claimed that it had refurbished the state fire service with new equipment, saying that it would soon become a separate entity from the Ministry of Public Utilities to become independent. The state fire service, it would be recalled, did not attend to the fire victims even after two days the fire was wrecking the markets.
It was Delta State Fire service that came to the victim’s rescue. This was even as the state government in 2017 boasted of equipping the state fire service when it failed to attend to a petrol tanker fire accident that claimed lives and property at DMGS axis in Onistha.
The federal government equally responded. The minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, Hajia Sadiya Umar-Farouq, visited victims of the incident same week, assuring that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to access the extent of damage caused by the inferno and as well directed the State Management Emergency Agency (SEMA) to provide food items and other relief materials to the victims.
No help yet
But investigations show that some if not all these promises have not been redeemed till date. The spokesman of Emordi Shoe Dealers Association, one of the plazas affected, Chief Chinedu Okonkwo, said they have not received any help.
Okonkwo, who told Blueprint that inventories on the losses were ongoing as the heads of markets and plazas affected were assisting the state government committee on disaster
to compile names of the victims, alleged that the National Assembly and state House of Assembly members from the area have not come to sympathise with them, adding that those alleged to have come met with cabals and not the ‘real’ victims.
Corroborating the claims that the victims were yet to receive help, the chairman, Upper Iweka Traders Association, Chief Paul Oliseh, while estimating the total loss his members incurred as a result of the inferno to the tune of 100 million, said the best compensation they needed from the state and federal government is for them to establish a fire service posts at all parts of Onitsha market.
Immediate victims call for help
Contributing, Mr Victor Ononye, suggested that the state water corporation should be resuscitated and allowed to install station at every market as that would help to quickly respond to fire outbreak aside other needs.
Speaking to Blueprint, one of the affected persons, Mr Emeka Mbah, said they had photoshoot all the shops burnt by the fire and handed over to officials of the state government but nothing had come out of it.
Another victim, Mrs Amaka Igwe, who said she was yet to recover from the trauma of the tanker fire explosion, said the incident had turned her to a food vendor as she has nothing else to do.
“It was traumatic experience. I saw people burning inside their own shops with their goods without any help from onlookers. I trade on inflammable products like gallons and so on. All went off. I thank God I escaped.
“I have decided to be cooking and selling to people to survive. I am a single mother. This is the only way I can survive for now. I am begging the government and private individuals to come and help us,” she maintained.
Mr Okechukwu Moghalu, who deals in motor batteries, also lost his newly imported goods of over N10m, asked for urgent compensation in order to bounce back to life and help his family.
He urged the government to find a lasting solution to the incessant falling of tanker as that according to him was best means of compensating traders who do not want it future occurrence.
Mr Nchekwube Anyanwu, a victim recuperating from sick bed said, “I was happy when the minister came promising us heaven on earth. I am appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfil this onerous promise by coming to our aide because of the welfare of our children.
“Some of us borrowed money from banks and isusu contributors to fund our business. If nothing is done to save these people, I can bet you that more might commit suicide. It is not an experience everyone can easily forgo. Please we need urgent help.”
A father of five children, Mr Amobi Arochukwu, aged 38 years, who was met at Toronto Hospital Limited, Onitsha, where he is receiving medical attention, said his children have stopped going to school as they now look after him.
“I was inside my shop when I heard a loud nose of people outside. As I came out to inquire what was happening, the fire had caught my neighbour’s shop. I ran back to my shop to pick some goods but got trapped by the fire. I need prayer for quick recovery and money to fend for my family,” he maintained.
Miss Blessing Egwuonwu, who said she was trapped by the fire in the vehicle convening her and others to Ochanja market on that day, cried that she needed ‘good medical care’ so as to work again without amputation.
When contacted, the director of Toronto Hospital limited, Onitsha, where most victims of the inferno were receiving treatment, Sir Osita C. Mbelu, said they were recuperating, but declined comments when asked if the state government had offset the bills of any patient.
Blueprint further learnt that the deputy governor’s led panel was yet to submit their report as at time of filing this report let alone providing help to the affected traders. Also the federal government was also yet to fulfill its promise as the office of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) could not provide evidence of adhering to that directive.
“The state government and federal government’s help to the traders will come by December. We have met with them and assured them that. Things are been gathered from donor agencies as well. All these would get to the traders same time. These include compensation money and other consolation to help them bounce back,” a source from SEMA said.
