President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to members of the mass media to assist government in enlightening the public on security consciousness.
Touched by the loss of lives put officially at 71 dead by the combined security operatives at the Karu, Abuja motor park bomb blast, on Monday, the president was near tears when he visited the scene to carry out a first hand assessment.
As at Monday afternoon, the official government figures stated 71 death and 124 injured. The injured are receiving treatment at various hospitals within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Police Spokesman, Frank Mba told journalists in Abuja that a total 16 Luxurious buses were torched, while 24 other,s mainly belonging to individuals suffered damages.
The President who was close to tears as he inspected the massive devastation of lives and properties, harped on the need for extra vigilance and for people to report suspicious movements in any part of the country, to security agencies.
“You can see that I am here with Senate President, Senator David mark and the Chairman of PDP, Chief of Defence, service Chiefs, National Security Adviser and that the security agencies are also doing their best to handle the situation.
“Let us first express our collective condolence to the families of those who lost their lives and also commend the security agencies for their quick response.
“It is not the number, let me appeal to our country men and women, for them to continue to work very hard on this issue of Boko Haram” he said.
He further declared that government would do every thing necessary to ensure that the country moves forward, despite the activities of those who preferred to move the country backwards
“We shall get over it. We want to appeal to our media to begin to come up with enlightenment programmes for our people, to make citizens very aware of suspicious movement so that they can be reported promptly to security agencies” he said.
He added “Let us become more observant and monitor the movement of people . We will do our best, the security agencies will continue to work hard to ensure that we get over this issue of Boko Haram”.
Police spokesperson Frank Mba further disclosed that security agencies were working with hospitals to create information centres for relatives of the afflicted, to assist them in getting information on their loved ones.
“We promised you earlier on that we will continue to update you and it is in that spirit that I want to update you as regards the casualty figures.
“So far, we have a total of 71 persons dead and 124 others injured. The injured are all receiving treatments at various hospitals in and around the FTC metropolis.
“In order to help families of the bereaved, the security agencies are working with hospitals, encouraging most of the hospitals to open information centers that will help relatives and friends to get relevant information from those hospitals where the dead bodies are deposited and others receiving treatment,” he said.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
