How Government Negligence Kills Bomb Blasts Victims
Victims of numerous bomb blasts in Nigeria have accused the federal government of neglecting them despite promises that they would be financially supported and given free medical attention.
Victims receive treatment at a hospital, after an explosion in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Wednesday, June 17, 2015. A large sack of home-made bombs discovered at an abandoned Boko Haram camp exploded, killing 63 people, witnesses said Wednesday of a toll many times higher than in any recent attack in northeast Nigeria. The explosives were found by civilian self-defense fighters who carried the bag filled with metal objects to the nearby town of Monguno, said fighters including Haruna Bukar. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)
Victims receive treatment at a hospital, after an explosion in Maiduguri.
Premium Times reports that the victims, under the aegis of the Bomb Victims’ Association of Nigeria (BVAN), expressed their discontent in a statement issued on July 22, Wednesday.
They lamented that several people who survived Boko Haram attacks have died due to prolonged neglect by the government and their inability to pay their medical bills.
“Victims are dying needlessly, deaths that are avoidable if urgent and continuous medical attentions are provided. We have cases of first-degree burns, cornea opacity, compound fractures and orthopedic cases, limb amputees, tympanic membrane and osicular bone damages on the ear, keloid skins, intensive nerve and tissue injuries and so on, which are in need of urgent medical attentions,” the group said.
The group noted that after years of government’s neglect, some of victims had no choice but to form an umbrella body “to speak with one voice and to help show love, care and support towards those affected, and be the voice of the voiceless of her members”.
“We are united by our scars and by our belief that together we can care for and support one another to get through this trauma, reclaim our dignity and, ultimately, prevail over the perpetrators of the crimes that have scarred our lives forever,” the group said.
The association stressed in its statement that Nigeria’s government had failed to fulfil its promise to provide free health care for victims of bomb blasts. Wondering what happened to the N80 billion raised by the Victims Support Fund (VSF), the group called on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the disbursement and management of the fund.
The group also urged the government to include its representatives in the VSF committee, and set a framework that will make sure the fund reaches true victims of the bomb blasts.
Meanwhile, arrangements have been made by the presidential initiative for the North East and Lafarge company to invest about 100 million dollars in job creation for people who have been affected by the Boko Haram attacks in the region.
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