Falana demands compensation for victims killed during Customs’ rice distribution stampede

Human rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana (SAN), has called on the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to immediately compensate the families of seven victims who died in a stampede that occurred during the sale of low-cost rice at the Service’s office in Lagos in February.

The seven Nigerians tragically lost their lives on February 23, when pandemonium broke out while trying to purchase the rice seized from smugglers which was ordered by President Bola Tinubu, at the subsidized price of N10,000 for a 25kg bag at the Customs’ Zonal Office on Harvey Road, Yaba.

The tragic incident led to the immediate suspension of the food disposal initiative by the Customs but two weeks after the tragic incident, Falana has faulted the Customs for failing to compensate the families of the victims.

The activist who made the call in a statement on Sunday, said it was regrettable that two weeks after the incident, the authorities of NCS has not taken responsibility nor deemed it fit to identify the families of the victims to at least commiserate with them.

“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,” the SAN said.

“Therefore, the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Service should take urgent steps to identify the bereaved families of the seven deceased citizens with a view to paying 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,” Falana said.

He also called on the Customs to lift the suspension of the sale 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,” he advised.

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