Ondo gas explosion razed 40 shops, houses

No fewer than 42 shops and houses were razed by last Saturday’s gas explosion in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

Meanwhile, the state government said it will compensate owners of houses and shops that were destroyed. Property worth millions of naira were destroyed by the inferno.

These disclosure were made to Vanguard by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Head of Operation for Ekiti State covering Ondo and Osun states, Mr. Saheed Akiode, yesterday.

Meanwhile, Governor Olugesun Mimiko during a visit to the scene, said a committee would be set up to take inventory of the damaged property.

Mimiko pointed out that the committee will determine the compensation due to the victims of the inferno.

He said that the gas outlet responsible for the inferno was not approved for such business.

Governor Mimiko, who described the occurrence as unfortunate, read out the letter of rejection of approval for sitting the retail outlet on the location and handed over same to residents of the area.

The governor assured that all illegal filling stations located in residential areas and other hazardous locations in the state would be pulled down.

He called on the people to be vigilant and report illegal gas retail outlet to appropriate authorities.

Mimiko also visited the Truama Centre in Ondo, where some of the victims were receiving treatment. He promised full responsibility of government for their bills.

He said: “Gas station outfit in the middle of residential areas is unacceptable.

“This man applied to set up the facility there in May this year and by June, the ministry wrote a letter rejecting the approval. Yet he went ahead to expose the lives of the people here to danger. This makes one to be sad.”