Inferno: Okowa dolls out N5.4m to 54 Ubeji traders

Osakhare Erese, Asaba

The Delta State Government has disbursed the sum of N5.4 million to 54 traders in Ubeji, Warri South Local Government Area of the state, who lost their goods and valuables to the fire disaster that engulfed goods in their shops on September 7 this year.
Each of the traders was given the sum of N100, 000, except one Jolomi who got N200, 000 as a result of the enormity of the losses that he suffered from his three shops, which were terribly ravaged by the inferno caused by a tanker laden with fuel, which caught fire when it fell and spilled its content by the side of the shops.
The Commissioner, Bureau for Special Duties, Barr. Earnest Ogwezzy, who disbursed the money to the victims of the disaster on behalf of the state government, after earlier verifying the names of the victims at the scene of the incident, said that the government’s gesture was to ameliorate the plight of the people, who suffered losses to the inferno.
Ogwezzy, who was speaking at the premises of Warri South Local Government Council Secretariat, where the relief assistance was disbursed to the beneficiaries, noted that it was a well-known fact that the present administration led by Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa was very passionate about the welfare of Deltans, “hence he has empowered the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to respond to the plight of victims of various disasters in the state”.
According to him, the presentation of the relief assistance to the victims was a clear demonstration of Governor Okowa’s commitment to prosperity for all Deltans, pointing out that the beneficiaries of the gesture from government should make good use of the relief assistance given to them for the benefit of mankind, even as he urged Deltans to guide against acts that can trigger any form of disaster in the state.
Earlier in her address, the Director in charge of SEMA, Mrs. Gladys Puegeren, said that the state government’s intervention in the Ubeji fire disaster was apt and timely, adding that the gesture was to ameliorate the plight of the victims and not to compensate them for their losses in the inferno.
While saying that it was hoped that the relief assistance would go a long way in ameliorating the sufferings of the victims, Puegeren reiterated that SEMA was irrevocably committed to fulfilling her mandate of responding to victims of various disasters in the state, just as she applauded Governor Okowa for putting appropriate measures in place to ensure that SEMA delivered on her mandate.
Responding on behalf of beneficiaries of the state government’s gestures, Hon. Golly Emmanuel Oritseweyinmi, thanked Governor Okowa for the relief assistance given to them, assuring the state government that they would make good use of the assistance to the glory of God.
Meanwhile, there was pandemonium in the ancient city of Sapele when Sapele Market located in Decima road extension yesterday experienced fire outbreak.
According to Mrs. Elizabeth Okoro while responding to questions from journalists, a shop owner (names withheld) off loaded her goods late that Thursday evening with a candle light and forgot to put off the candle before leaving the shop premises in the late hours of the night.
She added that in the early hours of Friday morning was engulf residents of the area woke up to observe smoke coming out from shops around, which was later followed by the fire which spread to different shops where goods worth millions of naira were destroyed, but there were no casualty.