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00:00:12of
00:00:21Hello and welcome to eyewitness report, I am
00:00:25your me, on this edition
00:00:28of the program we turn to the story
00:00:30of the spa more fire incident in kalaba cross river
00:00:34state with an update on the financial support
00:00:37being provided to victims
00:00:40of the unfortunate incident. also the
00:00:43resurgence of coal mining in Enogu is
00:00:47raising questions about the balance between profit
00:00:50making and the responsibility to give back to host
00:00:54communities. it promises to be a revealing edition
00:00:58so stay with us for the
00:01:02of Details: For the victims
00:01:04of the spa shopping mall fire in kalaba, the flames
00:01:08may have died down by the pain of losing their businesses
00:01:12and livelihood lingers. Since the August
00:01:16of 202nd Inferno, many have been left counting their
00:01:19losses while
00:01:21of holding to one hope, the chance to start
00:01:24again. That hope has
00:01:26of now
00:01:26of received a
00:01:27of major boost with a 450. million nara
00:01:30support from the wife
00:01:32of of the
00:01:32president.
00:01:40In the early hours of Saturday, August 22, fire
00:01:44broke out in sections
00:01:45of the spa shopping complex in
00:01:47of Calabar, living a trail of destruction and heavy losses
00:01:51for businesses operating within the
00:01:54of facility.
00:01:58of
00:02:05of As flames and
00:02:08thick smoke and golf parts
00:02:10of the complex, shoppers, shop owners and tenants
00:02:14scramble safety, while others gather
00:02:17outside, watching
00:02:19of helplessly of as the fire
00:02:20spreads.
00:02:36of
00:02:39of of
00:02:49the whole team of fire service have been here trying to combat the
00:02:53incidents, it's quite unfortunate that we're facing this,
00:02:56of so we are trying our best and god helping us we are doing.
00:03:00putting it off, the level of damage is very significant, lot
00:03:04of things, in fact our interest is the people who are going to state out
00:03:07of job for now and the investment that have been lost, what
00:03:11have been damaged here is what billions,
00:03:15of is what
00:03:15of billions, the least we can estimate is
00:03:17a 3 billion, what of damage as at
00:03:19now?
00:03:28of
00:03:41of
00:03:51of
00:04:01a
00:04:04of
00:04:10of
00:04:19No deaths or major injuries were reported in the incident,
00:04:23but the scale of destruction is significant with
00:04:26of goods and properties reportedly what billions of...
00:04:30lost to the
00:04:33a
00:04:34a fire,
00:04:42even as firefighters work to contain the blaze, some
00:04:45tenants take the risk of returning to affected areas,
00:04:49desperately trying to salvage whatever goods they
00:04:53of can.
00:05:02of
00:05:10of
00:05:53We are yet to know what the details of are, but um rem
00:05:56we got wind of it as first responders we had to quickly rush to
00:06:00the venue and then um with the fire
00:06:03service we've been helping carrying the host ensuring free
00:06:06clearance that the trucks can easily go in and you
00:06:10extinguish to a great extent we've been. able to douse the flame
00:06:14and so the threat is still there so we are still moving further
00:06:17in at the other wing you can see the are trucks in there too, we
00:06:21are trying to make ensure that we secure the properties that are here as
00:06:25well as lives that may not be lost, it's very
00:06:28heartbreaking, very devastating and troubling and
00:06:32i want to thank our firefighters for coming to the rescue
00:06:36because what we are having here would have escalated more than this bner for their prom
00:06:40response and most important ly the security
00:06:44agencies, because we discovered that criminals,
00:06:48vandals wanted to take over the venue and begin
00:06:51looting, so I'm happy that the entire have been
00:06:55cdened for safety, and we also doing our best in
00:06:59terms of recovering items that have not been
00:07:03affected. government is intentionally
00:07:07doing everything possible to ensure
00:07:08safety.
00:07:17For many the affected businesses, years of investment
00:07:21and livelihoods were wiped out within
00:07:23hours.
00:08:08The extent the damage becomes even more painful for victims as
00:08:11they confront. the reality of losing merchandise and
00:08:15investment that took years to build. I a
00:08:19victim, oh, I a victim, I am victim, my
00:08:23husband shop is already down, I don't know the fate of my own, I don't
00:08:27know, I don't know the faith of my
00:08:30own, the fire started yesterday
00:08:34night before I left, my b blue and we saw smoke, and I
00:08:38called the maintenance team, they came and switch something over and they said the...
00:08:42do something this morning on our tenants platform people
00:08:46started complaining that their shops were having fluctuation of lights and
00:08:50equally dropped my own that's our shop we don't know what is
00:08:53happening only
00:08:55for me
00:08:55to be called from the church this morning that fire enter
00:08:58the
00:09:05honestly speaking we are not happy over what has happened
00:09:08here it's rather very
00:09:10sad i got information about this that incident about
00:09:13the about 20 minutes after it and i make several
00:09:17calls, you see the problem is this, most people don't don't pick
00:09:20calls until and unless they have your number, if they have pick
00:09:24calls this problem would have been would have
00:09:27been averted, we so sad we came here and you have seen the destruction,
00:09:31i'm sure somebody somewhere must have caused this, it's so unfortunate either
00:09:35it is human error, whher somebody left electrical appliances, whatever
00:09:39it is, but i'm very optimistic it is human error,
00:09:41it is sad but I want to pleed with Nigeria please, when somebody call you pick your
00:09:45call, the person has reason, I have made more than 10 calls, if we had
00:09:49if we had if we had if if I was in touch with those people, this problem would have been like
00:09:53this, it's carelessness, you don't pick calls because you don't have my number, somebody calls
00:09:57you, may be emergency, so it's so sad over what has
00:10:00happened.
00:10:21cross river state government's delegation led by the Deputy.
00:10:25Governor visited the scene to assess the damage and
00:10:28sympathize with affected
00:10:30operators.
00:11:27For the affected ship owners, the visit offered some
00:11:30reassurance, but the bigger challenge remained
00:11:33rebuilding businesses and recovering from losses sustained in the
00:11:37fire.
00:11:47The incident later attracted further government intervention
00:11:50following the visit the wife the president, Senator Lurem
00:11:54Tinubu. to cross river state for the flag of the south south
00:11:58zone food bank program. during the visit she
00:12:02pledged support for the affected
00:12:03businesses.
00:12:12that promise has now translated into financial assistance
00:12:16with governor basio to presenting 25 million nar
00:12:19each to 18 affected business owners on
00:12:23behalf the president
00:12:55This humanitarian guest through the facility therefore
00:12:57summarizes, the proposal governance the all
00:13:01progressive congress across the states the
00:13:04federation. It is instructive to
00:13:08mention at this point that this financial lifeline given by
00:13:12Mr. President should be judiciously utilized
00:13:16in order to justify his love,
00:13:18sacrifice and good
00:13:21will. He is meant purely for the rest talking.
00:13:25of your shop so as to stabilize your businesses. the government
00:13:29and people state are therefore profoundly grateful for the
00:13:33magnanimity of Mr. President, as the funds will go a long
00:13:36way to reduce the anguish the fire
00:13:40victims. as responsive and responsible
00:13:43government, my administration in the state will continue to support small
00:13:47businesses to drive since the informal sector is the engine room
00:13:51of
00:13:51our economy. the doors the state microfinances.
00:13:55development agency are always
00:13:57open to entrepreneurs for business advisory
00:14:01services, soft loans and grants, you may therefore
00:14:05avail yourselves the services to grow your
00:14:08businesses and of course improve your
00:14:11livelihoods, and I've been made to understand
00:14:15that there are others, which I ask the DG of Summer to
00:14:19immediately categorize in that
00:14:22order, which will probably provide. between 1 to 5
00:14:26million for them to also support their business, I mean to
00:14:30understand, I made
00:14:33to understand that those people's names were not captured here, but we will
00:14:37do our best to see what can be done, and to
00:14:41see how spark can come back alive very very quickly before the
00:14:45biggest street party we are talking
00:14:47about, it was quite a
00:14:50difficult moment for us, for the beneficiaries
00:14:54the intervention. replace everything lost, but it provides lifeline at
00:14:58critical moment, offering affected businesses an
00:15:01opportunity to begin the long road to recovery. i want
00:15:05to say thank you for this act, it's not usually
00:15:09common for to find government keep the
00:15:12award, but you have shown that government can make promises
00:15:16and government can keep it, and for this it
00:15:19means so much to us, yes it will take us to where we were, but
00:15:23it gives us a place to start from. and for that we want
00:15:26to say thank you so much, so on behalf the
00:15:28mal tenants want to say thank you very much, we sincerely
00:15:32appreciate this gesture, thank you very much, and as the ash
00:15:36is declared and... assessments continue, the focus now
00:15:40shifts from the destruction to rebuilding livelihoods,
00:15:44restoring confidence and ensuring that businesses
00:15:47can return to safer and more sustainable
00:15:51operations.
00:15:59know what's happening across Nigeria's various regions and channels
00:16:02televisions news room series. every Monday we bring
00:16:06you stories from the southwest and on Tuesday, the
00:16:10Northwest is our focus, we're in the south south for midweek
00:16:14reports on Wednesday, and later
00:16:16in the week, the North Central takes center state. The southeast
00:16:20gets the spotlight on Fridays and we close out the week for the
00:16:23northeast on Saturday. Watch Newsroom series, 3
00:16:27pm, Monday saturday only on Channel's
00:16:30television. Welcome
00:16:34back, a home community in UD. local government area
00:16:38of Enogun state is among the communities where coal
00:16:42mining is making a return after the industry
00:16:45remained largely dominant for years, but as mining
00:16:49activities pick up, questions are being raised about the
00:16:53contributions the mining company and the state
00:16:56government to the development the community. these
00:17:00concerns come alongside growing fears the
00:17:04environmental impact of renewed mining activity.
00:17:08and what residents stand to gain from the resources being
00:17:12extracted from their
00:17:13land? Enogu became known
00:17:17as the cold city, its fortunes tied closely to
00:17:21industry that powered economic activities across the
00:17:24region, but when all you took center stage, the
00:17:27bomb
00:17:28faded.
00:17:32Today, the earth is opening up again, coal mining is making
00:17:36a fierce comeback. and communities such as our home are
00:17:40finding themselves on the frontlines of this renewed
00:17:43activity.
00:17:52Open cast mining is reshaping the landscape and as many
00:17:56as 50 trucks fly this road daily transporting coal
00:17:59away from the
00:18:01mine.
00:18:37but beneath the economic promise are concerns over the
00:18:40environmental, health and safety risks
00:18:44associated with open cast mining. so
00:18:47okay, almost every two weeks
00:18:51i used to go to hospital because the dust, and if i complain to
00:18:55them, they will do as if they'd not hear. when they are moving, they move in
00:18:59chains, and when they are moving, they raise lot of
00:19:02dust, and the sand they put down here now actually
00:19:06aggravates the dust. looking at the environment, our people leaves
00:19:10around the road, and this dust is actually so very
00:19:14harmful to the health, and I must say
00:19:17that um, it is a thing that is
00:19:20bothering, it's actually bothering us. The mining
00:19:24company, African Pits and Cories says is implementing
00:19:28projects and other interventions for home community as part of his
00:19:32development agreement with his host
00:19:34community. These intervention include
00:19:38clinic and four ball holes amongst others, but for some
00:19:42residents, the question is whether these provisions
00:19:45adequately reflects the value the natural resources
00:19:49being extracted from their
00:19:50land,
00:19:56that's a federal road, that's the only one you have here, there's no tired, look at it,
00:20:00we have erosion minutes in some places, it's dangerous
00:20:04even where they are doing a mining. we have seen a lot that the
00:20:08government is doing we have um we
00:20:11have smart school there uh we also
00:20:14have
00:20:15a the company also doing the much they can of
00:20:18course um we expect more like oliver
00:20:22twist we want them to do more want them to help us with
00:20:25transformers want them to help us lift all these things is
00:20:29and i saw you know that we have these things in this
00:20:33community and we are we find ourselves like this it's very bad
00:20:36even though the company they try to maintain both the village roads,
00:20:40they from time to time bring their their graders to
00:20:44actually come and grade the road, but of course when you know you know that when you are
00:20:48grading the road either you are... sinking the road, because
00:20:52when you grade, the road will sink, and when it sinks, the
00:20:56people will not live high, and this thing actually harms the road more.
00:21:00the mining
00:21:01uh site is also towards this road, so actually we
00:21:05are, we have written to the governor, looking at the mining
00:21:08sit and the waterfall, we ask him
00:21:12and pray to his excellency to actually look into it
00:21:16and see how he will come to our aid as a community.
00:21:20asphating this road from the major road, the old express road to
00:21:24Nsuka, then to the mining site down to the
00:21:27waterfall. In an off- camera conversation, the mining
00:21:31site manager said the company is doing its best to support the
00:21:34community, adding that the responsibility for staffing the clinic
00:21:38and asphalting roads rest with the state
00:21:41government. Our home has eight villages
00:21:44and they have
00:21:47drilled water, solar.
00:21:51in four these villages, we we're
00:21:54happy with that, but then that is short of what they signed in
00:21:58the mou, buse in the mou, there
00:22:02is there
00:22:02is a provision that they will also give water to
00:22:06almost all the villages, there is a provision that they to
00:22:10suppress this you resivness, the current
00:22:14town union is doing so much to see that the
00:22:17youths and the the other mo
00:22:21signed had provisions for
00:22:23reconciliation, are you getting it? for
00:22:27uh discussions, negotiation and the rest, we invoke it, we invoke
00:22:31it and then get them to address the
00:22:35circumstances and the displaisure the people and see
00:22:38whether otherws we are happy that on home
00:22:42after in is what any is because the coal mining, so
00:22:46if that is a coal mining something happening in our home, that should be something that...
00:22:50to home should and the environments around
00:22:52the home should have. The state government says the proposed
00:22:56call to power projects could further open up the area,
00:22:59creating new economic opportunities for the people. We have
00:23:03a plan for 660 megaw power station.
00:23:07Right, so part the things we are doing now, any part the call we
00:23:10are we are now exploring for is for that power station, which will guarantee 2% power
00:23:14supply for the entire state of which can even export power if we have
00:23:18more than enough. So that's. a catch point for us, because we know that once you
00:23:22have power station here, we are going to attract a lot of industries
00:23:25to, lot them, because they all go the
00:23:28where power is, so and that those
00:23:31industies job for our people,
00:23:34100%, but as mining expands,
00:23:38environmental concerns remain,
00:23:41professor, an environmentalist
00:23:44wasing on the potential impact of open cast mining on
00:23:48the environment. "once you finish mining
00:23:51area, you ensure
00:23:54that you fill up the
00:23:58pits and you revegitate, with
00:24:01time whatever we have lost we start regaining
00:24:04again, and so that way too, you won't have people
00:24:08uh inadvertently falling into the pits, so those are the
00:24:12things uh we try to do now the soil as
00:24:15well, if the soils are polluted uh by these
00:24:19heavy medals." "if you plant in the
00:24:22soil, you're likely to also get the plants
00:24:26polluted by the v by the heavy medals, so
00:24:30that's why we also recommend that as you try
00:24:34to - carry out
00:24:37remediation to knock off the effect
00:24:41the heavy medal reaching the waterways, for the soil
00:24:45is already there, so all you need to do is to carry out the
00:24:48fight to remediation, you like or some other remedial techniques
00:24:52to ensure that the concentration the heavy medals in the are not such that they will
00:24:56cause pollution to the extent that the plants will take them
00:25:00up and then get transferred to humans who consume the
00:25:03plants um now for the dust you mentioned
00:25:07the which is correct during those excavations you
00:25:11release a whole lot of dust into the
00:25:14atmosphere and human beings who breed in these
00:25:18d of course the get exposed and they suffer
00:25:22one head or the other. now there
00:25:26is nothing you can do unless you
00:25:29apply what we call a weight operations. so we
00:25:33advise the mining
00:25:35companies try to put water, just spickle
00:25:39water as you are mining, that will reduce the release of dust into the
00:25:43atmosphere, and those them who are working at the
00:25:47mind pits are supposed to be protected themselves.
00:25:54From the minds that built Enogo to the pates being
00:25:57reopend, coal remains a powerful part the state
00:26:01history and Potentially its future.
00:26:05As co-mining expands, the responsibility now lies
00:26:09with the government mining companies and host
00:26:12communities to ensure that the lessons the past are not
00:26:15buried alongside the
00:26:17call.
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00:26:58bringing them to the attention of those who can act and make
00:27:02difference and that's it on this edition of eyewitness
00:27:06report, thank you so much for watching, i'm your me or
00:27:10type.
00:30:05Welcome to Channel's Business Global with me Juliana Olayinka reporting from just
00:30:09outside the palace of Westminster in Central London where global
00:30:12power, policy and markets intersect. Coming up
00:30:16today's show, Kimmy Vedenot puts tax and growth at the heart of
00:30:20her pitch to Britain, pledging to abolish inheritance tax on
00:30:24family homes and arguing that economic growth would be the central
00:30:27organizing principle the future conservative government. We
00:30:31hear from the... party leader following her closing speech in
00:30:35Birmingham
00:30:36and oil remains around $100 a barrel. Inflationary
00:30:40pressures of building and the prospect of further interest rate rises is
00:30:43back in focus.