Jigawa State Governor Umar Namadi yesterday said that the death toll on the recent petrol tanker accident in the state has risen to 181.
The Governor also said that 80 people are still in the hospital, and about 210 families were affected by the inferno.
Speaking to State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Governor said he was at the seat of power to brief President Bola Tinubu on the unfortunate incident.
He said that even though the President was on vacation when the tragedy occurred, his action as a leader was commendable.
He added that the patriotic steps the President took also necessitated the visit.
Asked why he was at the State House, he said, “I came to see Mr. President, first of all, to welcome him back from his annual leave and secondly, to brief him on what happened to us, the tragic incident that occurred in Jigawa state which claimed a lot of lives.
“So we felt it is important to come and brief Mr President on what we are doing as a government and also to thank him for sending a delegation immediately this incident happened.
“The people of Jigawa state have appreciated this action taken by Mr. President. So, I came to thank him for doing that and brief him about where we are and what we are trying to do.”
Asked what the situation was and the casualty level, Governor Namadi said, “Well, the situation as of today (yesterday) is that we have about 181 people that died and about 80 people in the hospital and about 210 families affected by this.”
Further asked what the government had done to ameliorate the situation, he said, “Well, of course, the state government has taken the medical bill of all the affected people, and we have done a lot of intervention to the families to ensure that they continue their livelihood. Also, Mr. President has promised to intervene and assist the victim.”
He said that many mitigation steps had been taken to prevent reoccurrence, including establishing a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of a retired DIG to investigate the remote causes of the accident and then advise the government on what to do.
“Also, you should remember that Mr. President has immediately given a directive to the Corps Marshal that he should investigate this matter and come up with a permanent solution to this problem in this country,” he said.
He said the outcome of the investigative panel set up to investigate the causes of the accident would determine whether the state government would prosecute anyone.