Bodija area of the ancient city of Ibadan, Oyo State capital, is a popular idyllic haven, a picturesque abode of many of the city’s nouveauxriches, at peace with itself. But it temporarily lost its innocence last week.
At about 7.44pm on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, ‘Armageddon’ literally visited Adeyi Avenue and supplanted its tranquility. An explosion went off and hit the street with the devastation of a rocket and by the time the fog cleared, the entire street had been flattened.
Most of the buildings on the street were reduced to near rubble. Scarred by big ugly cracks, the few buildings that did not go down completely may have to be pulled down because they are not likely to pass structural integrity test.
The deadly blast completely razed virtually all the vehicles at the scene. The boom of the explosion, said to have spanned a 14-kilometre radius, reverberated across many parts of the sprawling city. It blew windows out of houses and shook buildings to their foundation, even in some streets far away from the scene.
Five people died in the explosion, while about 77 persons were injured, hospitalised and many of them had been discharged. Residents who were lucky to have survived, had horrendous tales to tell.
They were literally stripped naked. All most of them had laboured to amass in life went with the blast like a flash of lightning.
One of the victims succinctly painted the mental picture of their fate thus: “There’s nothing again. Everything has gone down, including the cars. We’re homeless … We just need help as much as possible.”
That help will surely come their way. Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, who rose promptly to the challenge of the crisis, promised just that. “I have directed that the medical bills of all the victims be covered by the government,” he was quoted to have said, adding: “We will also provide temporary accommodation for those whose houses were affected and ensure that they are supported to rebuild their lives.” This is highly commendable.
Now, the big question: Who did it? Governor Makinde, quoting preliminary investigations, attributed the blast to some illegal miners who allegedly stored explosive devices in one of the houses on Adeyi Avenue.
Some people disagreed with the governor, contending that they suspected a terrorist attack because the impact of the blast, in their estimation, was more than what explosives could have caused.
However, in the absence of a forensic investigation, we toe the governor’s line for now but we urge His Excellency to intensify ongoing investigations. We understand that the probe includes the forensic examinations of the fragments from the explosion. Suspects are also being trailed. The probe must be thorough, exploring all possible angles to get to the root of the tragedy.
As it were, nothing, perhaps, better demonstrates the tragi-comedy, the paradoxes and internal contradictions of the Nigerian situation than the intricate issues underpinning the Ibadan blast. It is the interplay of Nigerians’ typical inveterate malevolence, insufferable proclivity for crass opportunism and outright economic sabotage, that are at the heart of the nation’s economic challenges.
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It is unthinkable that a nation and a people in dire straits will leave their doors ajar for foreign interlopers to continually feast on precious resources that can successfully displace oil in internal revenue if properly harnessed.
As we write, illegal miners, many of whom are foreign nationals, are having a field day harnessing our mineral resources in other states like Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Zamfara, Plateau, Nasarawa, among many others. They are raking in billions and paying little or nothing to the government’s coffers.
They so brazenly heist our patrimony in connivance with highly placed Nigerians for pecuniary benefits, while our economy bleeds.
As for the Ibadan blast, it beggars belief that such volume of explosives that could cause such an extensive damage could be stored in an elite enclave like Bodija without the presumable eagle eyes of security agencies picking them out through intelligence.
Let thorough house-to-house raids be carried out without further delay in other locations where similar illegal mining activities are being undertaken to intercept possible pile up of similar explosives to avert a reoccurrence of the Ibadan fiasco.
Then, all the culprits behind this devastation should be fixed out and prosecuted. And for God’s sake, let the mining operations be thoroughly sieved to separate the grains from the chaffs and then sanitised.
One of the best ways to sanitise the whole thing is to drastically alter the ownership structure of the nation’s mineral resources. At present, they are on the Exclusive List in the Constitution. In essence, the total control and ownership of all the mineral resources in the country are vested in the
Federal Government. The states have no say in what happens to the precious resources in their domains.
The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007, is unambiguous on this. Chapter 1, Part 1 of the Act, titled: “Ownership and control of minerals,” provides in Section 1: “The entire property in and control of mineral resources in, under or upon any land in Nigeria, its contiguous continental self and all rivers, streams and water courses throughout Nigeria, any area covered by its territorial waters or constituency and Exclusive Economic Zone is and shall be vested in the Government of the Federation for and or on behalf of the people of Nigeria.”
Section 2 states: “All lands in which minerals have been found in commercial quantities shall from the commencement of this Act be acquired by the government of the federation in accordance with the provisions of the Land Use Act.”
Hence, everything and everyone gravitate towards the centre as far as mineral resources are concerned. So, state governors maintain a somewhat standoffish posture to the whole thing. Whereas Nigeria, as a behemoth, is too big for our minerals or treasures buried in vast swathes of thick vegetations and difficult acquatic terrains to be successfully policed from the centre against trespass.
That explains why interlopers are having a field day feasting on those precious resources, while a larger percentage of those treasures remain untapped. As it is, only the few miners that are licensed by the Federal Government are paying royalties to the centre. All the others are operating illegally. They only pay “dues” that should go to the government to the pockets of their masters, who are bigwigs shielding them against the law and reproach.
Much of the tardiness will be frontally addressed if the resources are placed on the Concurrent List in the Constitution. We understand that the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act is being amended. Let whatever amendment take cognisance of this. The states should be allowed to harness the resources in their domains and pay a mutually agreed percentage of their accruable revenue to the centre. That way, the states will have access to more money for regional development and drastically reduce the present tendency to run to Abuja for everything.
The Federal Government in turn will get more revenue with the consistent flow of royalties from the states to the centre. We are so blessed that virtually every state has at least one or two minerals in large deposits at its backyard.
The current awkward arrangement is akin to the proverbial man who chooses to wash his hands with spittle while rivers sluice all around him. That is untidy. Let there be change.
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