Bala Mohammed, NEMA donate N20m to victims of Bauchi blast

Alhaji Bala Mohammed, the Minister, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has donated N20 million to victims of last week’s bomb blast at the Central Market in Bauchi.

Mohammed, who was accompanied by the Director General of NEMA, Alhaji Sani Sidi, said they were in Bauchi on Sunday to represent President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said Jonathan directed them to visit Bauchi to commiserate with the victims and also send condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the incident.

The minister, who described the bomb blast as unfortunate, said people should do away with the insinuation in some quarters that the government was behind the insurgency.

“I want to seize this opportunity to dissuade people from making such insinuations and telling lies that the Federal Government has a hand in some of these bombings,” he said.

Sidi said the Federal Government had directed his agency to provide roofing and building materials for reconstruction of the damaged market.

According to him, NEMA has supplied different types of drugs to the ATBU Teaching Hospital for the treatment of victims who are receiving treatment there.

“The president has directed us to also supply traders with building materials such as cement, nails and roofing sheets,” he said.

The minister and the NEMA director general, along with the other members of the team, visited the scene of the incident at the Central Market, the emir’s palace and the hospital.

At the palace, the minister told the emir, Alhaji Rilwanu Sulaiman, that the President asked them to extend his condolence to the people of Bauchi and the emir himself.

He said the government would do everything possible to see an end to the insurgency.

Responding, Sulaiman prayed that it would be the last time such an unfortunate thing would happen in the country.