The Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON) said it lost four luxury buses belonging to its members valued at N275million as a result of the bomblast that occurred inside the Kano garage on Monday, March 18, 2013 which led to the death of many passengers and other people in the garage.
In a statement signed by Ejike Okoli, president and Frank Nneji, secretary respectively of ALBON and made available to BusinessDay last Monday, the luxury bus owners and operators regretted that, it is evident that it’s businesses are endangered and in the imminent danger of collapsing. All the buses destroyed in the bombing incident were estimated to worth about N275million at the current rate of N55million each.
The ugly incident resulted in the death of over 200 people made up of workers and passengers who were inside the garage at the time of the blast and also completely burnt down five new generation luxury buses belonging to God Bless Ezenwata Nigeria Limited, Ifeanyichukwu Industries & Commercial (Nigeria) Limited, two buses belonging to Gobison Motors Nigeria Limited and Chiemezie Motors Nigeria Limited.
Worried by this trend of events and unwarranted attacks on the passengers, ALBON is asking the state government to pay compensation of the sum of N275million to four of its member operators who lost their five luxury buses in the attack, to foot the hospital bills of all those wounded and currently on admission in hospital in Kano state.
ALBON is also asking government to pay compensation to the families of all those who lost their lives in the attacks. It also appealed to the state government to direct the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Police Command to provide 24-hour security coverage for all members operating at the luxury bus garage in the state.
Similarly, from February 2011 till date, four luxury buses belonging to Ekwos & Associates and Dan Dollars Motors were equally targeted and bombed at various locations in the northern part of the country.
