Some families that lost loved ones in the Ikeja Military Cantonment Bomb Blasts which occurred in Lagos in January 2002, have cried out to both the Federal and Lagos State Governments to fulfill their promise and pay them the compensation.

This was made known by the Chairman, 2002 Ikeja Bomb Blasts Victims’ Families, Nurudeen Oyegbemi, on Friday, after prayers were offered for the people that died in the incident at the site of the mass burial in Oke-Afa, Isolo, Lagos State.

Oyegbami said that only less than half of the families of victims were compensated while the others were forgotten.

He said: “When the incident happened, we were told that those that lost their loved ones should register their names with the state government.

“The following year, the Federal Government invited us to the National Assembly and gave N500, 000 to those that lost their beloved ones, while N250, 000 was given to the victims’ families that got missing.

“According to the government, they made us to understand that the monies given were just relief packages, adding that they would soon compensate us adequately.

“After ten years, the Lagos State Government, out of the 154 victims’ families, gave only 70 families N250, 000 while the remaining 84 were left behind and since then, they have not done anything about it,’’ he said.

Oyegbemi, said that he lost his 14-year old son in the bomb blasts, appealing to the federal and state governments to come to their aid.

Speaking in the same vein, vice chairman of the group, 57 year-old Ise Christopher, said that he lost his daughter, Adesua, in the blasts.

He added that it would have been lost but that his son who was together with the deceased Adesua survived.

“The elder brother of Adesua was also in the canal but we were able to bring him out alive and revive him, although we spent a lot of money to revive him in the hospital,” he said.

Another woman, Saulat Feyisetan, who said she lost her four children in the bombing incident also appealed for government assistance, even as she agreed that no amount would be able to make up for her loss.

“If my children were alive, I know what they would have done for me but the truth is that I am always sad anytime I think and pass across this burial ground,” she lamented.

The Lagos armoury explosion was the accidental detonation of a large stock of military high explosives at a storage facility in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, on 27 January 2002.

The fires created by the debris from this explosion burnt down a large section of Northern Lagos, and created panic that spread to other areas.

As people fled the flames, many stumbled into a concealed canal and were drowned.

The explosion and its aftermath are believed to have killed at least 1,100 people and displaced over 20,000, with many thousands injured or homeless.

The government of Nigeria launched an enquiry, which blamed the Nigerian Army for failing to properly maintain the base, or to decommission it when instructed to do so in 2001.