k contractor.
Residents, elders and leaders of thought in Ika land, even the Delta State
government in their different comments on the tragedy condoled with the
families of the victims praying that such a thing will never happen again. Some humane and kind hearted Ika sons
and daughters including non-governmental organization, most particularly Mike
Ebie President Ika National Association in USA, Mr. Chris Mbulu and Isioma
Okobah who established an appeal fund in conjunction with Ika Weekly for the
affected families, did their best through their individual donations and
visits.
It could be
recalled that the state governor, Dr.
Emmanuel Uduaghan during his visit to the scene of the incident promised to set
up an enquiry to look into the issue. Up till now, the said panel of enquiry
that was set up to investigate the issue has not come up with anything. Added
to that, the State government has not deemed it fit to compensate the families
of the victims particularly parents of the pupils that lost their lives.It is upon this,
that the Agbor Stakeholder Forum under the distinguish chairmanship of Chief
Philip Igumbor, the Osague of Agbor kingdom, volunteered to act as intermediary
between the Delta State government and Parents of the dead pupil who are now in
Court seeking for N18 billion compensation each. The Agbor stakeholder
intervention was to help settle the matter out of court but their efforts are being thwarted by
the state government who is yet to give them a listening ear. Their argument is
that the state government should not treat the College of Education Water tank
disaster with levity because it involved lives. Is government taking the matter
unserious shows that the lives of its citizens no longer matters to it, as
innocent lives were lost in the incident
due to the carelessness of some
unqualified contractors who government instead of penalizing is to
execute protecting than from facing the wrath of the law.By
and Large, the parents of the dead pupils have not done bad going to the court
because similar disasters in the country
were not handed with levity as
compensations were paid to families of people affected. Even the recent
killings of ten corps members in Bauchi State, the Federal Government and Bauchi State
government paid N5,000,000 and N2,000,000 respectively to each of the corp
members families. College of Education, Agbor tragedy should not be different.
The Delta State government should as a matter of urgency release a white paper
on their reports on the panel of
enquiry set up to probe the water
tank disaster, so that who awarded and those who executed the shady contract that sent innocent pupils to
their early grave should be brought to book, as that will serve as a deterrent
to others. Palliative measures in form of compensations should be given to the
affected families particularly parents of the dead ones. Concerted efforts
should also be made to avert any future occurrence by government through awarding
of contracts to certified, experienced
and qualified engineers or contractors who will not any way execute jobs
that will cost people their lives.
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