IBADAN FUNFAIR TRAGEDY IS A SAD CONSEQUENCE OF THE EXCRUCIATING CONDITION OF POVERTY BEDEVILING WORKING PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The Socialist Party Of Nigeria (SPN) sympathizes with the families of victims and cautions against the deceitful crocodile tears by the pro-capitalist politicians and governments formed by them!
We demand a democratic committee with representatives of NLC, TUC, NBA, ASUU, civil society, religious organizations among others for a transparent compilation of victims and adequate compensation
On Wednesday, 18th December, 2024, no fewer than 35 children mostly of the poor and working class background reportedly lost their lives, with six persons critically injured, during a stampede at a funfair event that was organized for children at Islamic High School in the Bashorun area in Ibadan.
According to media reports, the event was originally planned to accommodate a maximum of 5,000 attendees between the age 1 and 13 years old with different forms of benefits including food, drinks, scholarship and opportunity to participate in different social activities at no cost. To average working-class parents without means of guaranteeing a daily meal for their children due to the imposition of several anti-people policies by Nigerian capitalist governments at all levels, this kind of free events will definitely be seen as a means of a sort of respite. For instance, the prospect of their children wining a scholarship and have an access to education which is widely believed to be a way to break away from poverty was an attraction.
Going by this background, it is absolutely clear that it is the struggle for survival that better explains why many parents largely of poor and working class background were desperate in ensuring that their children were able to attend the programme. This especially when there was a prior information by the organizers that the targeted attendees were 5,000 children and no child would be allowed to enter and participate in the programme once the target was met. As a matter of fact some parents were so desperate to an extent that they had travel a day ahead of the programme from different towns outside Ibadan and passed a night at several open places, including the entrance of the venue of the event, in order to ensure that their children were among the 5000 attendees targeted for the event. Reports also have it that some adults without child or children were also among the people struggling to attend the funfair strictly organized for children. Consequently, the gate of the venue of the event was reportedly besieged as early as 6am with massive crowd comprising of adults and children whose number far exceeded the 5000 targeted by the organizers. This is the cause of the unfortunate stampede during which several children were trapped and either died or injured.
Suffice to state that it is a similar struggle for survival that was also responsible for the stampede that occurred at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, around March this year, at a venue for the distribution of palliatives. Two female students of the university died with several persons injured. Seven people were also reportedly killed during another stampede that occurred at Yaba Lagos again early this year while struggling to buy confiscated rice being sold by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at a lower price. All of these unfortunate developments are sad consequences of the excruciating condition of poverty and misery in the midst of plenty under which mass of the Nigerian working people are forced to live across the country.
The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), Oyo State Branch, shares the pains of many Nigerians who have either lost their live or injured in this kind of unfortunate circumstance. We at the same time express our sympathy for the relatives of the victims. However, we hold that the pro-capitalist politicians, their political parties and the anti-people polices implemented by their pro-capitalist governments are the root cause of the Ibadan tragedy as well as all other forms of calamity and disasters bedeviling the Nigeria working people at the present time. In other words, the conditions of mass suffering, poverty, joblessness among other being faced by the Nigeria workers, youths and poor today are direct consequences of the various anti-people policies like privitisation and deregulation of public utilities, including commercialization of social services like education and health care, being implemented by Nigerian capitalist governments at all levels.
This is why we urge the working people and youth not to be deceived by the avalanche of condolences messages the pro-capitalist politicians within and outside the state including government formed by them at all levels have expressed since the stampede occurred. As far as we are concerned, all of the condolences messages from these pro-capitalist politicians are just mere crocodile tears which are not only fake but also a means to exploit the stampede and its travail to project their own political profile and self-serving agenda. None of these pro-capitalist politicians and the government formed by them at all levels can be trusted for an adequate protection of the interest mass the victims of the stampede. It is in the light of this, we demand a democratic committee that will include representatives of working peoples’ organizations like NLC, TUC, NBA, ASUU among others for a transparent compilation of the list of victims with a view to ensure that they are adequately compensated.
The Ibadan tragedy further underscores the need for workers, youth and the poor to be united and organized to consistently resist anti-poor capitalist policies of the government at all levels. This is especially a challenge to the leadership of the mass organisations of working people like NLC and TUC to be alive to their historical responsibility. However, it is important for such a struggle to be linked with the need to enthrone a worker and poor peoples’ government run on the basis of socialism. It is only such a government that can begin to end all of the condition of misery and poverty faced by mass of the working people today. This is by reconstructing the society and planning the economy such that the collective wealth of the society is mobilized and used for the benefits of the vast majority, not the profit greed of a few.
Ayodeji Adigun
Oyo State SPN Secretary
E-mail: [email protected]