NCS urged to take responsibility for deaths during cheap rice sale
A Nigerian lawyer and human rights crusader, Femi Falana, has said that the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, should accept responsibilities for the deaths of seven persons, which took place during a rice sale stampede.
The NCS had begun to sell bags of rice, which it seized from smugglers, at an incredibly low price of N10, 000. The cheap prices, as against current market value of over N70,000, drew large crowds at sales points, leading to stampeded and deaths of the affected persons.
“It is sad to note that the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service have not deemed it fit to identify the bereaved families of the deceased and commiserate with them,” Falana stated.
He added, “As a matter, the deceased persons have been blamed for their impatience.
“Since it is common knowledge that similar distribution of food items to poor people had recorded stampedes 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.
“Therefore, the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service should take urgent steps to identify the bereaved families of the seven deceased citizens to pay them adequate monetary compensation.
“However, if our advice is ignored by the authorities, we shall not hesitate to approach the Federal High Court to enforce the fundamental right of each of the deceased persons to life as guaranteed by section 33 of the Nigerian Constitution and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
“Furthermore, the Nigeria Customs Service should lift the suspension of the distribution of the remaining bags of rice without any further delay. To avoid another stampede, the distribution should be carried out through the appropriate local government councils and local government development areas in Lagos State and other states of the federation.”
