The bombed UN building in Abuja
The United Nations System in Nigeria Wednesday finally released the names of 21 casualties from the August 26, 2011 blast with two casualties remaining unidentified.
The UN lost 11 members of its personnel in the blast which was carried out by a suicide bomber. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack.
A memorial service to honour the dead will hold Thursday morning at the UN House in Abuja.
The dead UN personnel are: Mr. Abraham Osunsanya (Administrative Assistant, WHO), Mr. Stephen Obamoh (Radio Operator, UNDP), Mrs. Felicia Nkwuokwu (Receptionist, UN Common Services, UNDP), Mr. Iliya David Musa (Receptionist, UN Common Services, UNDP) and Mr. Ahmed Abiodun Adewale-Kareem (Shipping Assistant, UNICEF).
Others are: Mr. Elisha Enaburekhan (Driver, UNAIDS), Dr. Edward Dede (National Professional Officer, WHO) Mr. Johnson Awotunde (Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, UNICEF), Mr. Musa Ali (Zonal Logistics Assistant for North West Zone, WHO) and Ms. Rahmat Abdullahi (Registry Clerk, UNDP).
A Norwegian, Ms. Ingrid Midtgaard, an Associate Expert with the UNODC, is the only non-Nigerian who died in the blast.
The non-UN staff were: Mr. Sunday James Ebere (Shipping Agent, Balast Agency), Mr. Ndubuisi Bright (Hospitality Industry Consultant), Ms. Kate Demehin (Federal Ministry of Health), Ms. Caroline Michael (Guard), Mr. Sunday Omelenyi (Guard), Mr.Yakubu Garuba (Guard) and Mr. Abiodun Cyril Adeseye (Julius Berger).
Others are: Ms. Patricia Ekwetinge (Travel Agent), Ms. Joy Audu (Nigeria Cleaning Services) and Mr. Paul Waziri (Nigeria Cleaning services).
Addressing journalists Wednesday, UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Daouda Toure, disclosed that a total of 116 people were injured and received treatment; 64 of them UN staff members, 36 non-UN staff members and 16 persons yet to be identified.
He added that 17 injured victims were evacuated to South Africa (12 UN and five non-UN staff) for specialised treatment for life-threatening injuries. Another five have been evacuated to South Africa to save their eye-sights after their retinas were damaged in the blast.
WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr. David Okello, said the choice of South Africa as treatment destination was not to discredit Nigeria’s health system but rather to ensure that the victims have access to facilities suited for their injuries.
He added that all the injured that were taken to the hospitals in Abuja survived.
“Those taken to South Africa were in life-threatening conditions, organs were destroyed: liver, spleen, kidney, brains, and they were all put on artificial organs to help them survive. They had to be evacuated by air ambulances and they are all alive. In fact, two of them have been discharged,” he said.
Speaking on the unidentified bodies, the UN Chief Security Adviser, Mr. Sorrien Scott, said there was a high possibility that the victims were not directly involved with the UN in any way.
He added that the register of those who entered the building on that day had been cross-checked and every person who was in the building on the day of the blast had been accounted for.
He dispelled reports that the investigations into the blast had been taken over by the UN.
“The Nigerian government is conducting the official investigations with its partners like the Interpol. We are all cooperating, but the UN is not conducting any investigation. What we are doing is to prepare an internal report of what transpired to the UN Secretary General,” he said.
THE VICTIMS
•Patricia Ekwerigbe was a 2003 graduate of Mass Communication from Auchi Poly. She was from Ishoko North, Delta State. She got a job as a travel agent with Six Continental Travel and Tours in 2007. Her office was located on the ground floor of the UN building.
•Patricia Ekwerigbe was a 2003 graduate of Mass Communication from Auchi Poly. She was from Ishoko North, Delta State. She got a job as a travel agent with Six Continental Travel and Tours in 2007. Her office was located on the ground floor of the UN building.
•Joy Audu, 24, hailed from Okene, Kogi State. She had an OND in Computer Science and planned to proceed to a university. While awaiting her UME results she secured a job a job as a cleaner with Nigeria Cleaning Services. She was the eighth of nine children.
•Ingrid Midtgaard, 30, was a lawyer. She was the only foreigner who died in the blast, and had worked at the Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP), an NGO in East Timor. She was due to leave Nigeria before the end of this year.
•Musa Ali worked with WHO as the Zonal Logistics Assistant for the North West Zone, based in Kano. WHO said “Musa’s excellent performance contributed to the significant reduction in polio burden in recent years”, saying that just before his death, he had been elected Vice President (North West Zone) of the WHO Staff Association. He left behind a widow and three children.
•Johnson Awotunde, 55, was with UNICEF as a specialist in Monitoring and Evaluation. His work was critical for the production, with the government, of the best facts and statistics on the state of children. These are used widely by aid professionals as they assess need and decide where to place resources. He was from Iragbiji in Osun state. He left a widow and six children.
•Edward Dede worked with WHO as National Professional Officer, Routine Immunisation. His significant contribution to strengthening routine immunisation, polio eradication and other accelerated control of vaccine-preventable diseases was not limited to Nigeria. Dr Dede contributed to several regional initiatives. He left behind a widow and two children.
•Rahmat Abdullahi, from Kwara state, had tried to secure a job with the UN for five years. Early this year, she joined the UNDP as a registry clerk.
•Abiodun Cyril Adeseye worked with Julius Berger and was assigned as a cleaner to the UN building. He returned from the burial of his mother two weeks before the blast and was involved in a car accident four days to the blast.
•Abraham A. Osunsanya was instrumental at WHO in boosting donor confidence through strengthening the administration of immunisation to save the lives of children. He left behind a widow and two children.
•Ahmed Abiodun Adewale-Kareem was a logistician at UNICEF and developed expertise on the safe importation of vaccines for mass immunisation campaigns. The delivery of millions of doses underpinned the success of immunisation campaigns. He was married with two children.
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