*Pastor Bamgbose
Two years after explosives stockpiled by a mining firm at a Bodija residence blew up and destroyed the community, Pastor Muyiwa Bamgbose, Chairman of Bodija Estate Residents Association (BERA) told TheMiners government has not done well with the survivors of the incident. Excerpts:
Q: It is two years since the unfortunate explosion at Bodija. How are you marking the occasion?
Ans: The Christians will go to church for a special anniversary service while the Muslims will got to the mosque to thank God for sparing our lives and for the restoration for some people. You know some people have been able to move forward. At least, there has been some sort of support from the government. Even though this is not enough, achievement is not a destination but a journey. Many people have been able to restore their lives. So we have every reason to be grateful to God.
Q: Thanks. A visit to the scene of the impact showed that the community is not yet fully restored and the impact of the explosion is still visible all over the area. What it really the status of the restoration effort?
A: That is why I used the language that it is a journey. Some of our people have moved back and are able to stay in their houses now, even though it might not be as it was before the explosion. We are still hopeful that there would be other supports that would enable the affected residents to fully reclaim their lives back. We are still appealing for more support from government so that everyone affected could really be comfortable. We would really love to see a transformation of the area for the better instead of mere restoration. In Yoruba parlance, we would like to see a situation of ‘Ile Oba to Jo…’ instead of ‘Oju apa ko Jo oju Ara.’
Q: There has been complaints that not all those affected by the explosion have received some form of support or the other from government. What is stopping some survivors from getting the support they need. We are talking of two years after the incident?
A: You see, for the families of those who lost their lives we are appealing that they would remove all forms of bureaucracy. The people at the Ministry of Justice, for instance, are talking about tax. Inheritance Tax and such. We are saying this is not about inheritance. This is about support for victims of an accident. If government is providing some succor for the living, that is something that anybody should be talking of tax. We have asked the governor to intervene, although you know as they say the law is an ass. It allows for rules and procedure without room for empathy. Yes, there is need to arrange property tax when someone dies. But these people were killed and in their prime in most cases. These people should still be working and earning to put their children through school. So, those kinds of family should receive the maximum support from government. So, it is up to the Governor to tell the civil servants to waive the rules so that those who still needed help could get it.
There is also the group of people whose houses are deemed to be beyond the 500meters away from the site of the explosion and they are saying these people cannot benefit. But our position is that once it is confirmed their buildings suffered from the explosion, then they ought to benefit from the support. We should not be talking of far or near so long as we know it was the explosion that damaged their building. We are of the view that with compassion, all those affected would be supported.
Q: Can you share with us the kind of support people have received from government and how this support was structured?
A: The damages to every building was valued and the houses were also assessed, if it is bungalow or duplex and such. It is those kind of parameters that were used. However, I have heard some tenants complain that what they gave to landlords is more than what they gave to them. But the truth is that you cannot quantify the damages suffered by a tenant the same way as that of a landlord. So, there is a cap to how much a tenant could get. You know, this is merely support and not compensation. You know it was possible to track and assess damages to buildings using GIS and other tools, but is difficult to assess what was inside those buildings, eg types of TV sets, refrigerators etc. I know the treatment might not be fair to some tenants, but it is really difficult to push for them without evidence of what was destroyed in the buildings.
Q: How involved was your association in the process of determining who gets what?
A: We were fully involved. We invited professionals to conduct the assessment. The Nigerian Society of Engineers, the Quantity Surveyors, the Architects, the GIS people to track the thing from space. So, it was professionals who put figures to the damages. We just facilitated their work. We provided them with office space and support to carry out the assignment. It was their report that we presented to government, although government also did its own due diligence. But I can tell you that our report was so detailed that no one could fault it.
Q: Recently, the tragedy became a focus for politics when former Ekiti State Government announced that the federal government released N50b to the Oyo State Government to support victims of the explosion. Of course, the Oyo State Government said it only got ₦30b. Now was your association aware of this Federal Government grant to Oyo State?
A: We got information that the Federal Government sent money to Oyo State and we wrote a letter to the Federal Government asking how much money was send. Nobody was willing to tell us anything. We were in the dark until the Fayose revelation. I can state that from inception those who sent the money from Abuja or were behind the sent money were themselves not straightforward. We have a situation where the people who sent money did not talk and the people who received money also refused to talk. One can only guess at the reason why there is such secrecy around the money.
But the impression we got from the Oyo State Government was that there was no money to meet the needs of the victims of the explosion. It was in that spirit that we engaged in discussion with them. That there was no money and we should just push to recover the barest minimum.
We can only say it is a good thing that the fight erupted and now we know there is actually money. We are of course not interested in the politics. For our members, the response we have receive is one of relief that, ha, so now there is money. Now what we are saying is please help our people some more and let us extend the support to that who are still waiting for help. That is our attitude to the whole thing.
Q: The Oyo State Government also said they spent money to build good roads at Bodija and we can see that this is true. Are you satisfied?
A: Our governor in Oyo State is working very hard. You can see work all across the state, within in Ibadan and other places. Look at the road to Iseyin, for instance. So, I wouldn’t say the repair of roads in Bodija has anything to do with blast. Let us just say road development is part of the good governance actions of the present government. By our reasoning, the last thing a blast would destroy in an area would be the roads. So Bodija roads really didn’t suffer damages from the blast. It was the buildings and people and property in those buildings that suffered. I think the governor is working everywhere and that includes at Bodija.
Let me also say that we are not asking for the whole money. We don’t need all of it. But where we found justification for extending support to those who need it, then they must get this support. I mean people were living in their own houses when the blast from the stored explosives brought down the houses. A lot of people died. Such people deserves the sympathy of government.
Q: What is the status of the trial of those arrested in connection with the explosion. I mean the owners of the explosives that caused the blast?
A: We are happy the Oyo State Attorney General has taken over the case from the police. Let me restate here that the Bodija Residents Association is interested in the case. We are ready to support and join the government of Oyo State in prosecuting those people. We have shared some forensic evidence with the Attorney General and we already to offer more support if needed. We are determined to ensure that those people do not go scot free as deterrent to people who might want to do such things in the future.
