Insured Victims Of Lagos Pipeline Explosion Will Get Compensation.
AMINA HUSSAINI, Abuja
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has assured that the insured victims of the Lagos state pipeline explosion will be adequately compensated.
The Acting-Commissioner for Insurance Sunday Thomas on a Television programme stated that the explosion is a timely reminder for Nigerians to take insurance matters seriously adding that victims with insurance coverage will be paid in full.
Thomas said ” Looking at it we need to see what level of compensation because if you see the buildings that have been damaged, we are not talking of N2bn for those residing in those buildings. What extent to which compensation can be gotten for these properties? I think that is where we will need to do a critical analysis.”
The explosion which occurred Sunday threw residents of FESTAC area of Lagos State into a state of panic. Dead bodies are still being recovered from the debris of the explosion which rendered about 200 families homeless and properties worth billions of Naira destroyed.
Already, 17 dead bodies had been recovered including Reverend Mrs Henrietta Alokha, the administrator of Bethlehem Girls College, Abule Ado, Amuwo Odofin who dies while trying to rescue some of the students.
On insurance awareness, The NAICOM boss agrees that the commission has not done enough in educating the public on Insurance and its benefits, and announced another round of sensitization exercise scheduled for the second quarter of the year.
“We also want to increase our effort in the area of developing the industry, we quite agree that we haven’t done enough in this area and we are picking it up with the sensitization of the public to get them to see the benefits of insurance”, he said.
It would be recalled that the Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had launched a N2 billion Relief fund, as he appealed to Lagosians, corporate bodies and Nigeria in general, to help provide funds to compensate victims of the explosion.
Sanwo-Olu who took to his Twitter page to commiserate with the victims wrote: “I spent some time today at the site of the tragic incident at Abule Ado. To give immediate relief and support to the victims of the disaster, I have set up a N2 billion Relief Fund to be chaired by Dr Obafemi Hamzat.
“The state government has put in N250m into the fund immediately. Here are the account details for the relief fund.I appeal to everyone to be a part of helping to provide this much-needed relief”.
As of Wednesday, the Fund has swollen by N200 million donations from both Dangote Cement and Zenith Bank with each donating N100 million each.
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