EDITORIAL: Lessons from Nigerian blast

By all Standards, It Was a Major Tragedy, for Besides the Heavy Loss of Life, Property Running Into Billions of Naira Was Also Destroyed. As Families Mourn the Loss of Their Dear Ones, They Also Have to Confront a Bleak Future of Having to Rebuild Their Lives From the Scratch All Over Again. in Africa Where Insurance is Not a Normal Way of Life, It is Conceivable That None of the People Whose Property Was Destroyed Had Any Insurance Cover. It is a Bleak Future Indeed.

First of all, we wish to send our condolences to the families of the victims of the exploding bombs in Nigeria's most populous city of Lagos.

The bombs that went off and resulted in the tragedy were part of a huge military ordnance that was being kept close to a market place. Without intending to reduce the import of the tragedy by employing a pun, that was an explosive mix!

Here in Ghana, no doubt similar ammo storage dumps are strewn all over the country, with some fairly close to densely populated areas. Some of these dumps were constructed years ago when those areas were sparsely populated. We hope our military authorities would start an evaluation of their ammo dumps and those close to densely populated areas relocated. We have no doubt whatsoever that the dump that went off in Lagos must have crossed some minds as regards its close proximity to the market place and yet no action was taken to move it. Now the price has been paid.

The Accra Daily Mail has for sometime now been campaigning for even the Teshie Firing Range to be relocated. At the time the site was selected for such use, the place was deserted, but now the city's expanding population has caught up and close by we have entertainment complexes, 5 star hotels and other active human activities.

Let's use this Nigerian tragedy to put our house in order.