Ibadan explosion: About N50b properties lost as govt ends rescue operation

About N50 billion worth of properties may have been lost and reduced to rubble after last Tuesday’s explosion in Ibadan, Oyo State, which killed five persons, injured 77 and rendered thousands homeless, some estate valuers have estimated.
Conservative estimates from estate valuers and cost consultants show that residents may have lost properties so much to the explosion. With about 230 houses claimed to have been affected by the explosion, valuers note that at N150 million per building, a conservative estimate of N34.5 billion would have been arrived at, while other critical infrastructure and vehicles would account for the balance.

This is coming after the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, disclosed at the weekend that a structural integrity test has been conducted on no fewer than 230 houses affected by the explosion.

While speaking at the Nigerian Society of Engineers investiture in Abuja, Makinde noted that the test included plans to resettle affected residents and avert a possible collapse of buildings.

“These past few days have been tough for the indigenes of Oyo State. We had an explosion and lost five lives and a lot of properties were destroyed.

“Between Tuesday and today (Saturday), the Society of Engineers led an effort to look at the structural integrity of the houses around ground zero of the explosion site and as of today, they have carried out integrity tests on 13 houses within 50 metres radius of the blast site, another 40 houses at 100 meters radius.

“They also carried out an integrity test at 200 metres on 122 houses and 53 houses within a 250-metre radius. In total, about 230 houses have been checked and this effort was led by the society. I sincerely thank you for helping us during this difficult time.”

The experts opined that it is at best still a rough estimate as going by ethics of the profession, the actual cost cannot be arrived at until estate valuers see all documents of the properties affected.

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The state government at the weekend disclosed that it has concluded rescue operations on the site of the explosion, while adding that the site is now being fumigated.

According to a source at the Governor’s Office, the state government has concluded operations at the scene of the incident, adding that what the various emergency responders are doing at the site now is fumigation exercise.

Barring last minute change, a Federal Government delegation will be visiting the Old Bodija scene of the explosion today. According to a source, the team will include the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake; the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu among other top government functionaries.

The visit will be for an on-the-spot assessment of the incident, its impact which will guide the Federal Government to making a decision on what form of support and palliative that would be made available for the victims and residents.

Preliminary investigations fingered dynamite stored up by illegal miners as the immediate cause of the explosion. As at press time, no arrest had been made as search and rescue efforts have been concluded.

A visit to the explosion site at Adeyi Avenue, Old Bodija, by The Guardian revealed that properties along Dejo Oyelese Street, Canon Odusanwo Street, Rev Aderinola Street and others were badly damaged while some were irreparably mangled. The explosion also affected some structures at the state government secretariat, University College Hospital (UCH), among many other adjoining areas.

Describing the loss as colossal while assessing the depth of the damage, the Oyo State chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Pastor Oluseyi Adebayo, said the loss would be difficult to quantify. The same sentiment was also shared by a lecturer at the Estate Management Department of Lead City University, Mr. Adewale Adedokun, adding that the properties destroyed were enormous and run into billions of Naira.

Adebayo said: “To do a comprehensive valuation of property, we need authorisation from the government and owners of such property. Some documents need to be made available to the valuers. However, we can do an on-the-spot assessment. We may not be able to do a comprehensive valuation but a rough estimate.  The properties lost to the incident in that community alone are in trillions of Naira. It is a highbrow area. The cost of property in the area is huge. Again, many cars, electronic appliances and other household goods were destroyed, besides other personal effects.”

For Adedokun: “To say the fact, assets worth more than a trillion naira have been destroyed, considering the high yielding neighbourhood, assets are not only limited to the land and buildings, but it also includes land, buildings, furniture, fittings, jewelry, automobiles, household appliances, and personal properties.

“These are categorised as economic value. What of social and cultural value, environmental value, emotional and psychological values that are intangible and cannot be quantified in monetary terms. In addition, how can we ascribe value to the lives that were lost in the explosion?  In summary, the value of assets lost in the explosion are enormous.”

Adebayo, Adedokun and other estate valuers and investment analysts have urged the government to conduct integrity tests for all buildings within the neighbourhood.

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Others who spoke with The Guardian are the Managing Director, Southwest Housing Exhibition, Dr Olayemi Rotimi-Shodimu; a NIESV Fellow, Fisayo Alo; and the immediate past chairman of NIESV in Oyo State, Solomon Bamidele Faloye.

They also called on the government to engage all relevant professionals to critically analyse the environmental impacts of the blast on humanity and the ecosystem, adding that a review of mining laws concerning keeping of explosives is expedient.

Faloye said it is necessary to conduct an integrity test on all the properties as many foundations have been shaken and may now have cracks leading to collapse afterwards.

Adewale, a lecturer, said: “Government needs to formulate a policy that will mandate every property owner to take life and property insurance policies like that of vehicles. The state government had taken proactive steps in ensuring that lives of injured people were secured and homeless residents accommodated in hotels at the expense of the government.

“Furthermore, the government should engage the services of professionals to analyse the incident to come up with robust reports and recommendations on how to move forward post-explosion effect. The professionals should involve built environment experts to look into the causes, extent of damage to properties around the incident site, assess the worth of the lost assets, determine compensation payable in terms of finance or redevelopment, and fish out the culprit responsible for the explosion.

“Also, experts should carry out impact assessment and integrity tests on the properties within the 500 metres radius from the centre, the environmental pollution, that is air and water. This will ensure safety of lives and properties in the long run. Hence, there is a need for experts to let us know the type and nature of the explosive. We pray it doesn’t have killer components like uranium.”

As victims of last Tuesday’s explosion continue to count their losses, a former director of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Dr. Olusegun Edward Ojo, yesterday, tasked security agencies, Federal Government and Oyo State government not to limit investigations into the explosives and dynamites of a resident miner as the cause of the incident.

While commending Governor Makinde for his prompt response to the explosion, he emphasised the need to widen the scope of the investigation to discover the immediate and remote causes of the explosion.

Ojo, who is former director of NEMA in charge of relief and rehabilitation, in a statement hinted that “with the massive extent of the devastation; it is very critical that other much more intricate findings on the remote and immediate causes of this incident are embarked upon to prevent a repeat of this anywhere in Oyo State or Nigeria in general.

“I visited the explosion site on Friday for the second time to see what activities were going on and to possibly lend my experience to the process. My interest was fuelled by the fact that I had spent a very good part of my active service life until recently in local and international humanitarian interventions such as the Ikeja ammunition bomb blast of 2002; the Bellview and the Sosoliso plane crashes in 2005; and part of the 2010 Haiti earthquake humanitarian intervention. I was also the National Focal Person on UNDRR’s proactive paradigm in Disaster Risk Reduction.

“I reckon that epidemiological, sanitation and health management were also ongoing to prevent the spread of diseases. But we cannot and must not just simply conclude and go to sleep that the Dejo Oyelese explosion incident was caused by explosives in the premises of the Malian miners.

“This is because of the unimaginable magnitude of the material devastation and loss of lives. We should think out of the box and search widely for other possibilities and consequences given the perennial act of terrorism in the country; and even for remote terrestrial astronomical possibilities as being speculated in some quarters.

“This incident is indeed a good opportunity to learn new lessons, and to reexamine and rejig our community/state-wide security architecture; the not-too-salutary environmental and town planning practices/approvals of incompatible land uses in the city of Ibadan.

“For example, petrol and cooking gas filling stations are located close to business concerns and dense residential areas in some parts of the city without due consideration for possible explosions, fire incidents, and other hazard risk implications,” he noted.

Ibadan explosion: About N50b properties lost as govt ends rescue operation