The Oyo State House of Assembly has called upon Governor Seyi Makinde to take action to alleviate the suffering of traders affected by the recent devastating fire inferno at Sango Market in Ibadan.
The state Assembly made the appeal on Thursday February 8 during its plenary sitting.
Honourable Gabriel Babajide, member representing Ibadan North II, under whose constituency was the affected, had in a motion titled: “URGENT NEED TO PROVIDE SUCCOR TO VICTIMS OF FIRE INCIDENT AT SANGO MARKET, IBADAN” brought before the house, called on the house to appeal to Governor Seyi Makinde to rise to the rescue of affected traders.
Recall that parts of Sango market in Ibadan was on February 4 (Sunday), razed by fire destroying no fewer than 24 shops and goods worth over 100 million naira.
According to Babajide in his motion, majority of the affected traders falls between the age range of 40 and 85 years old and relied solely on commercial activities from their shops as source of livelihood.
While appreciating the prompt response of neighbors and the Oyo State Fire Service in putting out the ravaging fire, Babajide noted that such effort was too late to prevent the damage and appealed for urgent support for victims.
He equally urged the state government to embark on aggressive enlightenment and awareness campaign on preventive and safety measures against fire disaster, especially as the dry season approaches.
The lawmaker equally called on the governor to mandate the executive chairman of Ibadan North to provide immediate relief for victims, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to visit the scene and offer assistance, the Ministry of Information and Orientation, among other urgent measuresmeasures appealed for.
In there separate remarks, other lawmakers commended Hon. Babajide for representing his constituency very well by bringing the motion before the House to amplify the call for support for victims of the inferno.
The Speaker, in his brief remarks, called on residents of the state to be more vigilant and ensure that they prevent whatever act capable of triggering fire disaster at both their homes and business places.
The house however, adopted the motion and the resolutions contained in it and urged the state government and Governor Seyi Makinde to urgently put measures in place to ameliorate the suffering of victims of the inferno to prevent the current situation from snowballing into a bigger economic crisis.
