‘We Are Depressed By The Stampedes’

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, says the federal government is depressed due to what happened during palliative distributions in three different locations of the country last week.

The Minister noted that while the government was saddened by the stampedes that claimed lives in Ibadan, Anambra, and Abuja last week, it had to talk about safety procedures for future programmes.

Speaking on Monday during Channels Television’s Morning Brief, Yilwatda said the failure of the event organizers to follow protocols and safety procedures was responsible for the stampede.

He noted that the federal government conducts palliative distribution on a larger scale and does not record such disasters because it follows necessary protocols and safety procedures for such activities.

According to him, organizations need to pick appropriate venues for their events, conduct risk and vulnerability tests, involve the police and adhere to registration in order to avoid future disasters while distributing palliative to the needy.

Yilwatda emphasized the need for protocols to be on the ground and proper crowd control measures put in place for future events in order to prevent stampedes, injuries and deaths.

He said, “First, I want to sympathise with the families and the country for the lives we lost. As a government, we are so depressed by what happened.

“However, despite the empathy, we still have to talk about the safety measures that are supposed to be taken at this moment.

“Mark you, we distribute food more than any organisation, and you would never hear of a stampede.

“We even distribute more than what these people are giving, even in harsher conditions but you won’t hear of any hazard. We go to areas where people are more desperate, IDP centres.

“So what are the protocols involved in such distribution of food? Whenever an event is not properly organized, then, we have these kinds of situations we have right now – stampede and loss of lives. We have challenges of protocol in this country. And these stampedes happen globally, even in countries that are developed.

“You can’t just throw open distribution of palliatives. For instance in Ibadan, they have a population of over 2 million, and you are saying you want 5000 people to come and collect.

“Or in Abuja where you have a population of between 2-3 million, and you say anybody can come and receive- maybe like 2000 people. The ratio is too small and you are going to have. And you know social media doesn’t even help the matter because you put the information there and many people show up.

“However, when you have such a programme, you ask people to come and register, and then you select those that will benefit.

“Then you pick distribution points if there are too many. You mount police officers there.

“You do vulnerability checks and risk assessments- these will prevent the stampede and deaths.”

The Minister emphasized that the government has always adopted these measures and urged churches and organisations that have good intentions towards the people to do the same.

“The most important thing is for state governments to domesticate these protocols because they are still at the national level. Even the local governments need to adopt it because events are organised at local and state government levels.

“At the federal government level, we have minimal events we control. So, they need to adopt the federal government protocols. Again, the police have protocols. So, police need to enforce the protocols, such as asking people to register for the events and then penalising those who fail to follow those protocols,” he said.

During the interview, the Minister listed protocols the government employs during palliative distribution and urged organizations without the resources to put such structures in place to contact the federal government for assistance.

“If we are organising food distribution, we write to the police and inform security agencies.

“We tell them our location and how many people we are expecting. We list our beneficiaries, then we pick venues together with the police.

“We do vulnerability checks and risk assessments of the venue.

“Then we set up a crowd management team.

“Before the crowd start arriving, the protocol team will be there first, so that they check in the people. If we discover that the crowd will be too much, we can postpone the event,” the Minister said.