Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has called for the establishment of the Disaster Endowment Fund to provide immediate palliatives for victims of disasters.
Makinde made the appeal on Thursday when he visited the scene of Wednesday’s fire disaster at the popular Dugbe Market, Lebanon Street, Ibadan, where properties worth millions of naira were destroyed.
According to the governor, the victims of Wednesday’s fire disaster can be given immediate palliatives if such an endowment was in place.
Makinde, who sympathized with victims of the disaster, said it was unfortunate that such an ugly incident happened now when the country was battling with social and economic impacts of COVID-19.
He assured the victims that the state government would try to assist those affected “in the face of the challenges facing the government”.
Earlier, Mr Rahman Adepoju, the Caretaker Chairman of Ibadan Northwest Local Government, who conducted Makinde round the scene, said that more than 22 shops stocked with valuable goods worth millions of naira were consumed in the inferno.
One of the victims, Mr Dapo Davis, appealed to the government, both state and federal, and wealthy Nigerians to assist victims of the disaster.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Wednesday’s fire disaster was noticed around 1.30 p.m.
Electronic goods, electricity power generators, furniture, books, and building materials were among items stocked in shops that were consumed by the inferno.
The cause of the inferno is still unknown, though the unconfirmed report showed that the disaster was due to the negligence of a welder working in one of the shops.
