CHANNELSTV — broadcast
20261012 000000 UTC
391 transcript segments
Google Speech-to-Text API Automatic Transcription (Chirp)
Data courtesy of The GDELT Project (https://www.gdeltproject.org/), from the Internet Archive TV News Archive.
Machine transcription. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a verbatim quotation record.

[00:00:12] of
[00:00:21] Hello and welcome to eyewitness report, I am
[00:00:25] your me, on this edition
[00:00:28] of the program we turn to the story
[00:00:30] of the spa more fire incident in kalaba cross river
[00:00:34] state with an update on the financial support
[00:00:37] being provided to victims
[00:00:40] of the unfortunate incident. also the
[00:00:43] resurgence of coal mining in Enogu is
[00:00:47] raising questions about the balance between profit
[00:00:50] making and the responsibility to give back to host
[00:00:54] communities. it promises to be a revealing edition
[00:00:58] so stay with us for the
[00:01:02] of Details: For the victims
[00:01:04] of the spa shopping mall fire in kalaba, the flames
[00:01:08] may have died down by the pain of losing their businesses
[00:01:12] and livelihood lingers. Since the August
[00:01:16] of 202nd Inferno, many have been left counting their
[00:01:19] losses while
[00:01:21] of holding to one hope, the chance to start
[00:01:24] again. That hope has
[00:01:26] of now
[00:01:26] of received a
[00:01:27] of major boost with a 450. million nara
[00:01:30] support from the wife
[00:01:32] of of the
[00:01:32] president.
[00:01:40] In the early hours of Saturday, August 22, fire
[00:01:44] broke out in sections
[00:01:45] of the spa shopping complex in
[00:01:47] of Calabar, living a trail of destruction and heavy losses
[00:01:51] for businesses operating within the
[00:01:54] of facility.
[00:01:58] of
[00:02:05] of As flames and
[00:02:08] thick smoke and golf parts
[00:02:10] of the complex, shoppers, shop owners and tenants
[00:02:14] scramble safety, while others gather
[00:02:17] outside, watching
[00:02:19] of helplessly of as the fire
[00:02:20] spreads.
[00:02:36] of
[00:02:39] of of
[00:02:49] the whole team of fire service have been here trying to combat the
[00:02:53] incidents, it's quite unfortunate that we're facing this,
[00:02:56] of so we are trying our best and god helping us we are doing.
[00:03:00] putting it off, the level of damage is very significant, lot
[00:03:04] of things, in fact our interest is the people who are going to state out
[00:03:07] of job for now and the investment that have been lost, what
[00:03:11] have been damaged here is what billions,
[00:03:15] of is what
[00:03:15] of billions, the least we can estimate is
[00:03:17] a 3 billion, what of damage as at
[00:03:19] now?
[00:03:28] of
[00:03:41] of
[00:03:51] of
[00:04:01] a
[00:04:04] of
[00:04:10] of
[00:04:19] No deaths or major injuries were reported in the incident,
[00:04:23] but the scale of destruction is significant with
[00:04:26] of goods and properties reportedly what billions of...
[00:04:30] lost to the
[00:04:33] a
[00:04:34] a fire,
[00:04:42] even as firefighters work to contain the blaze, some
[00:04:45] tenants take the risk of returning to affected areas,
[00:04:49] desperately trying to salvage whatever goods they
[00:04:53] of can.
[00:05:02] of
[00:05:10] of
[00:05:53] We are yet to know what the details of are, but um rem
[00:05:56] we got wind of it as first responders we had to quickly rush to
[00:06:00] the venue and then um with the fire
[00:06:03] service we've been helping carrying the host ensuring free
[00:06:06] clearance that the trucks can easily go in and you
[00:06:10] extinguish to a great extent we've been. able to douse the flame
[00:06:14] and so the threat is still there so we are still moving further
[00:06:17] in at the other wing you can see the are trucks in there too, we
[00:06:21] are trying to make ensure that we secure the properties that are here as
[00:06:25] well as lives that may not be lost, it's very
[00:06:28] heartbreaking, very devastating and troubling and
[00:06:32] i want to thank our firefighters for coming to the rescue
[00:06:36] because what we are having here would have escalated more than this bner for their prom
[00:06:40] response and most important ly the security
[00:06:44] agencies, because we discovered that criminals,
[00:06:48] vandals wanted to take over the venue and begin
[00:06:51] looting, so I'm happy that the entire have been
[00:06:55] cdened for safety, and we also doing our best in
[00:06:59] terms of recovering items that have not been
[00:07:03] affected. government is intentionally
[00:07:07] doing everything possible to ensure
[00:07:08] safety.
[00:07:17] For many the affected businesses, years of investment
[00:07:21] and livelihoods were wiped out within
[00:07:23] hours.
[00:08:08] The extent the damage becomes even more painful for victims as
[00:08:11] they confront. the reality of losing merchandise and
[00:08:15] investment that took years to build. I a
[00:08:19] victim, oh, I a victim, I am victim, my
[00:08:23] husband shop is already down, I don't know the fate of my own, I don't
[00:08:27] know, I don't know the faith of my
[00:08:30] own, the fire started yesterday
[00:08:34] night before I left, my b blue and we saw smoke, and I
[00:08:38] called the maintenance team, they came and switch something over and they said the...
[00:08:42] do something this morning on our tenants platform people
[00:08:46] started complaining that their shops were having fluctuation of lights and
[00:08:50] equally dropped my own that's our shop we don't know what is
[00:08:53] happening only
[00:08:55] for me
[00:08:55] to be called from the church this morning that fire enter
[00:08:58] the
[00:09:05] honestly speaking we are not happy over what has happened
[00:09:08] here it's rather very
[00:09:10] sad i got information about this that incident about
[00:09:13] the about 20 minutes after it and i make several
[00:09:17] calls, you see the problem is this, most people don't don't pick
[00:09:20] calls until and unless they have your number, if they have pick
[00:09:24] calls this problem would have been would have
[00:09:27] been averted, we so sad we came here and you have seen the destruction,
[00:09:31] i'm sure somebody somewhere must have caused this, it's so unfortunate either
[00:09:35] it is human error, whher somebody left electrical appliances, whatever
[00:09:39] it is, but i'm very optimistic it is human error,
[00:09:41] it is sad but I want to pleed with Nigeria please, when somebody call you pick your
[00:09:45] call, the person has reason, I have made more than 10 calls, if we had
[00:09:49] if we had if we had if if I was in touch with those people, this problem would have been like
[00:09:53] this, it's carelessness, you don't pick calls because you don't have my number, somebody calls
[00:09:57] you, may be emergency, so it's so sad over what has
[00:10:00] happened.
[00:10:21] cross river state government's delegation led by the Deputy.
[00:10:25] Governor visited the scene to assess the damage and
[00:10:28] sympathize with affected
[00:10:30] operators.
[00:11:27] For the affected ship owners, the visit offered some
[00:11:30] reassurance, but the bigger challenge remained
[00:11:33] rebuilding businesses and recovering from losses sustained in the
[00:11:37] fire.
[00:11:47] The incident later attracted further government intervention
[00:11:50] following the visit the wife the president, Senator Lurem
[00:11:54] Tinubu. to cross river state for the flag of the south south
[00:11:58] zone food bank program. during the visit she
[00:12:02] pledged support for the affected
[00:12:03] businesses.
[00:12:12] that promise has now translated into financial assistance
[00:12:16] with governor basio to presenting 25 million nar
[00:12:19] each to 18 affected business owners on
[00:12:23] behalf the president
[00:12:55] This humanitarian guest through the facility therefore
[00:12:57] summarizes, the proposal governance the all
[00:13:01] progressive congress across the states the
[00:13:04] federation. It is instructive to
[00:13:08] mention at this point that this financial lifeline given by
[00:13:12] Mr. President should be judiciously utilized
[00:13:16] in order to justify his love,
[00:13:18] sacrifice and good
[00:13:21] will. He is meant purely for the rest talking.
[00:13:25] of your shop so as to stabilize your businesses. the government
[00:13:29] and people state are therefore profoundly grateful for the
[00:13:33] magnanimity of Mr. President, as the funds will go a long
[00:13:36] way to reduce the anguish the fire
[00:13:40] victims. as responsive and responsible
[00:13:43] government, my administration in the state will continue to support small
[00:13:47] businesses to drive since the informal sector is the engine room
[00:13:51] of
[00:13:51] our economy. the doors the state microfinances.
[00:13:55] development agency are always
[00:13:57] open to entrepreneurs for business advisory
[00:14:01] services, soft loans and grants, you may therefore
[00:14:05] avail yourselves the services to grow your
[00:14:08] businesses and of course improve your
[00:14:11] livelihoods, and I've been made to understand
[00:14:15] that there are others, which I ask the DG of Summer to
[00:14:19] immediately categorize in that
[00:14:22] order, which will probably provide. between 1 to 5
[00:14:26] million for them to also support their business, I mean to
[00:14:30] understand, I made
[00:14:33] to understand that those people's names were not captured here, but we will
[00:14:37] do our best to see what can be done, and to
[00:14:41] see how spark can come back alive very very quickly before the
[00:14:45] biggest street party we are talking
[00:14:47] about, it was quite a
[00:14:50] difficult moment for us, for the beneficiaries
[00:14:54] the intervention. replace everything lost, but it provides lifeline at
[00:14:58] critical moment, offering affected businesses an
[00:15:01] opportunity to begin the long road to recovery. i want
[00:15:05] to say thank you for this act, it's not usually
[00:15:09] common for to find government keep the
[00:15:12] award, but you have shown that government can make promises
[00:15:16] and government can keep it, and for this it
[00:15:19] means so much to us, yes it will take us to where we were, but
[00:15:23] it gives us a place to start from. and for that we want
[00:15:26] to say thank you so much, so on behalf the
[00:15:28] mal tenants want to say thank you very much, we sincerely
[00:15:32] appreciate this gesture, thank you very much, and as the ash
[00:15:36] is declared and... assessments continue, the focus now
[00:15:40] shifts from the destruction to rebuilding livelihoods,
[00:15:44] restoring confidence and ensuring that businesses
[00:15:47] can return to safer and more sustainable
[00:15:51] operations.
[00:15:59] know what's happening across Nigeria's various regions and channels
[00:16:02] televisions news room series. every Monday we bring
[00:16:06] you stories from the southwest and on Tuesday, the
[00:16:10] Northwest is our focus, we're in the south south for midweek
[00:16:14] reports on Wednesday, and later
[00:16:16] in the week, the North Central takes center state. The southeast
[00:16:20] gets the spotlight on Fridays and we close out the week for the
[00:16:23] northeast on Saturday. Watch Newsroom series, 3
[00:16:27] pm, Monday saturday only on Channel's
[00:16:30] television. Welcome
[00:16:34] back, a home community in UD. local government area
[00:16:38] of Enogun state is among the communities where coal
[00:16:42] mining is making a return after the industry
[00:16:45] remained largely dominant for years, but as mining
[00:16:49] activities pick up, questions are being raised about the
[00:16:53] contributions the mining company and the state
[00:16:56] government to the development the community. these
[00:17:00] concerns come alongside growing fears the
[00:17:04] environmental impact of renewed mining activity.
[00:17:08] and what residents stand to gain from the resources being
[00:17:12] extracted from their
[00:17:13] land? Enogu became known
[00:17:17] as the cold city, its fortunes tied closely to
[00:17:21] industry that powered economic activities across the
[00:17:24] region, but when all you took center stage, the
[00:17:27] bomb
[00:17:28] faded.
[00:17:32] Today, the earth is opening up again, coal mining is making
[00:17:36] a fierce comeback. and communities such as our home are
[00:17:40] finding themselves on the frontlines of this renewed
[00:17:43] activity.
[00:17:52] Open cast mining is reshaping the landscape and as many
[00:17:56] as 50 trucks fly this road daily transporting coal
[00:17:59] away from the
[00:18:01] mine.
[00:18:37] but beneath the economic promise are concerns over the
[00:18:40] environmental, health and safety risks
[00:18:44] associated with open cast mining. so
[00:18:47] okay, almost every two weeks
[00:18:51] i used to go to hospital because the dust, and if i complain to
[00:18:55] them, they will do as if they'd not hear. when they are moving, they move in
[00:18:59] chains, and when they are moving, they raise lot of
[00:19:02] dust, and the sand they put down here now actually
[00:19:06] aggravates the dust. looking at the environment, our people leaves
[00:19:10] around the road, and this dust is actually so very
[00:19:14] harmful to the health, and I must say
[00:19:17] that um, it is a thing that is
[00:19:20] bothering, it's actually bothering us. The mining
[00:19:24] company, African Pits and Cories says is implementing
[00:19:28] projects and other interventions for home community as part of his
[00:19:32] development agreement with his host
[00:19:34] community. These intervention include
[00:19:38] clinic and four ball holes amongst others, but for some
[00:19:42] residents, the question is whether these provisions
[00:19:45] adequately reflects the value the natural resources
[00:19:49] being extracted from their
[00:19:50] land,
[00:19:56] that's a federal road, that's the only one you have here, there's no tired, look at it,
[00:20:00] we have erosion minutes in some places, it's dangerous
[00:20:04] even where they are doing a mining. we have seen a lot that the
[00:20:08] government is doing we have um we
[00:20:11] have smart school there uh we also
[00:20:14] have
[00:20:15] a the company also doing the much they can of
[00:20:18] course um we expect more like oliver
[00:20:22] twist we want them to do more want them to help us with
[00:20:25] transformers want them to help us lift all these things is
[00:20:29] and i saw you know that we have these things in this
[00:20:33] community and we are we find ourselves like this it's very bad
[00:20:36] even though the company they try to maintain both the village roads,
[00:20:40] they from time to time bring their their graders to
[00:20:44] actually come and grade the road, but of course when you know you know that when you are
[00:20:48] grading the road either you are... sinking the road, because
[00:20:52] when you grade, the road will sink, and when it sinks, the
[00:20:56] people will not live high, and this thing actually harms the road more.
[00:21:00] the mining
[00:21:01] uh site is also towards this road, so actually we
[00:21:05] are, we have written to the governor, looking at the mining
[00:21:08] sit and the waterfall, we ask him
[00:21:12] and pray to his excellency to actually look into it
[00:21:16] and see how he will come to our aid as a community.
[00:21:20] asphating this road from the major road, the old express road to
[00:21:24] Nsuka, then to the mining site down to the
[00:21:27] waterfall. In an off- camera conversation, the mining
[00:21:31] site manager said the company is doing its best to support the
[00:21:34] community, adding that the responsibility for staffing the clinic
[00:21:38] and asphalting roads rest with the state
[00:21:41] government. Our home has eight villages
[00:21:44] and they have
[00:21:47] drilled water, solar.
[00:21:51] in four these villages, we we're
[00:21:54] happy with that, but then that is short of what they signed in
[00:21:58] the mou, buse in the mou, there
[00:22:02] is there
[00:22:02] is a provision that they will also give water to
[00:22:06] almost all the villages, there is a provision that they to
[00:22:10] suppress this you resivness, the current
[00:22:14] town union is doing so much to see that the
[00:22:17] youths and the the other mo
[00:22:21] signed had provisions for
[00:22:23] reconciliation, are you getting it? for
[00:22:27] uh discussions, negotiation and the rest, we invoke it, we invoke
[00:22:31] it and then get them to address the
[00:22:35] circumstances and the displaisure the people and see
[00:22:38] whether otherws we are happy that on home
[00:22:42] after in is what any is because the coal mining, so
[00:22:46] if that is a coal mining something happening in our home, that should be something that...
[00:22:50] to home should and the environments around
[00:22:52] the home should have. The state government says the proposed
[00:22:56] call to power projects could further open up the area,
[00:22:59] creating new economic opportunities for the people. We have
[00:23:03] a plan for 660 megaw power station.
[00:23:07] Right, so part the things we are doing now, any part the call we
[00:23:10] are we are now exploring for is for that power station, which will guarantee 2% power
[00:23:14] supply for the entire state of which can even export power if we have
[00:23:18] more than enough. So that's. a catch point for us, because we know that once you
[00:23:22] have power station here, we are going to attract a lot of industries
[00:23:25] to, lot them, because they all go the
[00:23:28] where power is, so and that those
[00:23:31] industies job for our people,
[00:23:34] 100%, but as mining expands,
[00:23:38] environmental concerns remain,
[00:23:41] professor, an environmentalist
[00:23:44] wasing on the potential impact of open cast mining on
[00:23:48] the environment. "once you finish mining
[00:23:51] area, you ensure
[00:23:54] that you fill up the
[00:23:58] pits and you revegitate, with
[00:24:01] time whatever we have lost we start regaining
[00:24:04] again, and so that way too, you won't have people
[00:24:08] uh inadvertently falling into the pits, so those are the
[00:24:12] things uh we try to do now the soil as
[00:24:15] well, if the soils are polluted uh by these
[00:24:19] heavy medals." "if you plant in the
[00:24:22] soil, you're likely to also get the plants
[00:24:26] polluted by the v by the heavy medals, so
[00:24:30] that's why we also recommend that as you try
[00:24:34] to - carry out
[00:24:37] remediation to knock off the effect
[00:24:41] the heavy medal reaching the waterways, for the soil
[00:24:45] is already there, so all you need to do is to carry out the
[00:24:48] fight to remediation, you like or some other remedial techniques
[00:24:52] to ensure that the concentration the heavy medals in the are not such that they will
[00:24:56] cause pollution to the extent that the plants will take them
[00:25:00] up and then get transferred to humans who consume the
[00:25:03] plants um now for the dust you mentioned
[00:25:07] the which is correct during those excavations you
[00:25:11] release a whole lot of dust into the
[00:25:14] atmosphere and human beings who breed in these
[00:25:18] d of course the get exposed and they suffer
[00:25:22] one head or the other. now there
[00:25:26] is nothing you can do unless you
[00:25:29] apply what we call a weight operations. so we
[00:25:33] advise the mining
[00:25:35] companies try to put water, just spickle
[00:25:39] water as you are mining, that will reduce the release of dust into the
[00:25:43] atmosphere, and those them who are working at the
[00:25:47] mind pits are supposed to be protected themselves.
[00:25:54] From the minds that built Enogo to the pates being
[00:25:57] reopend, coal remains a powerful part the state
[00:26:01] history and Potentially its future.
[00:26:05] As co-mining expands, the responsibility now lies
[00:26:09] with the government mining companies and host
[00:26:12] communities to ensure that the lessons the past are not
[00:26:15] buried alongside the
[00:26:17] call.
[00:26:24] Iwitness report gives you the power to go beyond
[00:26:28] simply watching from the comfort of your home. If
[00:26:32] you witness incident or development you believe deserves
[00:26:36] attention, share your pictures and videos with us by
[00:26:39] uploading them through our website at
[00:26:42] channelstv.com/programs/iwitness
[00:26:47] report or via our mobile app. Your
[00:26:51] reports can help us investigate, follow up
[00:26:54] issues and amplify stories that matter,
[00:26:58] bringing them to the attention of those who can act and make
[00:27:02] difference and that's it on this edition of eyewitness
[00:27:06] report, thank you so much for watching, i'm your me or
[00:27:10] type.
[00:30:05] Welcome to Channel's Business Global with me Juliana Olayinka reporting from just
[00:30:09] outside the palace of Westminster in Central London where global
[00:30:12] power, policy and markets intersect. Coming up
[00:30:16] today's show, Kimmy Vedenot puts tax and growth at the heart of
[00:30:20] her pitch to Britain, pledging to abolish inheritance tax on
[00:30:24] family homes and arguing that economic growth would be the central
[00:30:27] organizing principle the future conservative government. We
[00:30:31] hear from the... party leader following her closing speech in
[00:30:35] Birmingham
[00:30:36] and oil remains around $100 a barrel. Inflationary
[00:30:40] pressures of building and the prospect of further interest rate rises is
[00:30:43] back in focus.