From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Bola Tinubu, has set up a committee to review the laws guiding the control of explosives in the country to determine whether they were violated by illegal miners whose activities led to Tuesday’s deadly explosion in Ibadan.
The explosion killed two persons and wounded about 80 others. It also destroyed several buildings, vehicles, and other properties.
Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, who made the disclosure while addressing State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the committee is made up of all the security agencies, Minister of Environment, Ministry of Solid Minerals.
According to Badaru, the Council expressed concerns about the incident and the need to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Speaking on council’s deliberations, the minister said: “In today’s deliberation, the explosion in Ibadan was raised and the government sympathised with the victims and the very good people of Oyo State. And currently, investigation is ongoing to find out the real cause of the blast and to see how best we can prevent it happening in the future.
“After that, there is the issue of environmental protection as well as mining, area protection and forest protection were discussed and a committee was set by Mr. President.
“That includes all the security agencies, Minister of Environment, Ministry of solid minerals to look into all these issues, and see how we can provide lasting solution to stop the issues that center around environmental degradation both in our forests and the mining sites. And also the rampant illegal mining and control of earthing in the mining sector.”
Reacting to Governor Seye Makinde’s revelation that the explosion was caused by explosives stored by illegal ministers, the minister noted that there was also suspicion in some quarters that it might have been gas explosion.
He noted that the federal agents were now on ground at the scene of the incident to ascertain the cause and ways to prevent future occurrence.
“The first question has to do with Ibadan explosion where the governor said that preliminary investigation suggested that there were some explosives around the area where it happened that were owned by some illegal miners.
“Well, we have seen that report. There is another report suggesting that it was a gas explosion. So, our team are there trying to find out what is the cause.
“But for the council to be proactive, it has already set up the committee that I told you to look into how the control of explosives law was broken, if indeed, there are explosives around the area where this incident happened.
“That was why the committee was set up to look at the rules to see where the chain is broken and see how it can be fixed and gather more information if this is happening rampantly around the country.
“You all know that there is strict rule in the storage, movement and ownership of these explosives and the rule is being monitored. If there is any case of breakdown, we will find out and deal with it,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu has expressed sadness over the devastating explosion that occurred on Tuesday night in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, the President said: “It is worrisome that the cause of the blast is being attributed to the activities of illegal miners.
Those behind the inexcusable and reckless behaviour that has created the conditions for the sad incident to occur must be fished out and punished.
“President Tinubu commiserated with the government and people of Oyo State and called on all the concerned agencies of government to unravel the circumstances that led to the tragedy with alacrity.
“The President directs the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to work with the Oyo State Government to offer immediate and comprehensive relief to the victims,”