The Akwa Ibom State Government has donated relief materials to the victims of a fire outbreak that occurred at Iwuokpom Community in Ibeno Local Government Area.
The Deputy Governor, Moses Ekpo, who made the donation on behalf of the state government, on Saturday also sympathised with the victims who lost valuable property to the inferno.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the relief materials donated by the state government included 127 bags of rice and 38 bags of beans.
Also donated are 127 bags of flour, 127 bags of garri, 127 bags of maize and 379 pieces mosquito nets.
Other relief materials included mattresses, wrappers, brocades, bundles of zinc, 379 bags of cement and 183 ceiling boards.
Ekpo said the relief materials were the first batch to be donated to the affected victims by the state government.
“For those who lost their houses in the inferno that happened on January 3, the government is looking into it, to be able to give them relief materials,” Ekpo said.
He reassured the victims that the state government was making plans to rehabilitate them.
“The state will continue to do its best to provide rehabilitation to the fire victims at Iwuokpom Community in Ibeno Local Government Area,” he said.
The deputy governor, however, said it was a sad development that the inferno destroyed property worth millions of naira.
He also urged ExxonMobil to visit the victims and assist them with relief materials.
He thanked both the National Emergency Management Agency and the State Emergency Management Agency for conducting an on-the-spot assessment of the affected area and for visiting the victims.
Also speaking, Isaac Abakam and the other community leaders from the area expressed their appreciation to the state for donating relief materials to the victims.
Abakam appealed to the state government to open up an access road to Iwuokpom community to guide against reoccurrence.
He said: “If we must rebuild the place, we must have an access road since that place is a fishing spot.
“If such an incident should happen again, there would be no access road for community members and fire fighters to attack the fire and put it under control.”
Also, Chief Okon Sunday, the Village Head of Iwuokpom, commended the state for donating the relief materials to the victims of the inferno.
Sunday urged the state to establish a well equipped fire service point in Ibeno LGA.
He said such would help to check the year-to-year fire disaster usually experienced in the area.
He advised the community members to always be mindful of what they were doing and warned them against storing petrol in their homes.
He also advised them to always be careful with the fire they normally used for smoking their fish to avoid disaster.
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