By Felix Kuyinu
Lawyer and Activist, Femi Falana (SAN), has urged the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to compensate families of victims who lost their lives in a stampede while buying palliative food packs at the Zonal Headquarters in Yaba Lagos.
According to reports, seven indigent persons died during the incident.
Falana threatened to approach the Federal High Court to enforce the fundamental right of each of the deceased to life as guaranteed by section 33 of the Nigerian Constitution and article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights if his advice is ignored by the authorities.
He bethought that the NSC, on February 23, 2024, embarked on the distribution of 25kg bags of rice to indigent citizens and noted that the exercise was marred by a stampede which claimed the lives of the individuals.
The lawyer, who said the tragic incident resulted to the immediate suspension of the food disposal initiative by the Nigeria Customs Service uttered that it is sad that the authorities have not deemed it fit to identify the bereaved families and commiserate with them.
Falana, while noting that the deceased persons have been blamed for their impatient said: “Since it is a common knowledge that similar distribution of food items to poor people had recorded stampede in the recent past, the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service must accept full responsibility for the blatant negligence that led to the avoidable death of the seven citizens.
“Since a bag of rice was selling for N77,000 at the material time, it ought to have occurred to the Nigeria Customs Service that its Zonal Headquarters in Yaba would not be able to contain the crowd that had been invited to purchase a 25kg bag of rice at N10,000.”
Falana advised the NSC to identify the bereaved families with a view to render adequate monetary compensation to them.
To avoid further stampede, he advised the NSC to embark on a closer distribution in local government councils and local government development areas in Lagos State and other states of the federation.
