Maiduguri inferno: Governor Zulum announces Presidential visit

Borno state Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum has once again visited the engulfed Maiduguri main market where he announced that President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to visit the scene on Thursday.

 

Governor Zulum who described the incident as huge and devastating to the traders, had after his first visit announced an emergency relief fund of one billion naira to provide urgent support to victims, pending assessment of the incident.

Read Also: Maiduguri Inferno: President Buhari Calls For Caution

 

“The immediate intervention is to provide humanitarian support to the traders who have lost millions of naira,” he said.

 

He further explained that clearance of the market will begin after the Presidential visit.

 

According to him, reconstruction of the market will commence while investigation into the cause of the fire will be ongoing.

He also noted that government will look at the possibility of having a short and  long term sustainable solution that will avert such crisis in the future.

 

Mohammed Alkali, Managing Director of North East Development Commission who was also in the governor’s entourage, explained that he has gone through the North East in the last 3years but has never seen a destruction like this.

 

“In all the 14years of insurgency in the area, the fire incident is far more damaging,” he lamented.

 

“The commission will work with government to contribute their quota as quickly as possible. As a way of providing humanitarian aid, the commission will give 20 thousand bags of rice, 10 thousand cartons of spaghetti or macaroni and about 10 thousand gallons of oil to victims,” he added.

He said the commission will work with the government to provide both short and long term solutions to the problem.

 

Similarly, governor Zulum received a group of prominent Borno citizens in Maiduguri led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, the group managing director of the NNPC Mele Kyari and Mutuwalli Kashim Imam, Chairman TETfund among others.

 

Speaking during the sympathy visit, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe said Maiduguri Monday market was established many years ago and is the largest market in the northeast sub-region, bringing together thousands of buyers and sellers.

Ambassador Kingibe commiserated with victims of the fire disaster and commended the steps taken by Governor Babagana Umara Zulum towards cushioning the hardship faced by the affected traders.

 

The Chairman of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Alhaji Kashim Imam, announced a personal donation of N100 million to support victims of the market disaster.