Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, on Friday, presented N2 million cash to each of the families of the seven journalists who died in an auto crash.

Seven journalists from the state, on Monday, died in an auto crash while returning from a colleague’s wedding ceremony in Kaltungo Local Government Area of the state.

Donating the money in Gombe, Mr Yahaya, who was represented by Abubakar Njodi, secretary to the state government, said it was a token to support the deceased families.

He said that the accident was of grave concern to the government and to the state in view of the late journalists’ invaluable contributions to the development of the state.

He said the losses were huge given the number of journalists lost in a single crash.

Mr Yahaya urged the bereaved families to accept the incident as God’s will, adding, ”If the deceased knew what would happen, they wouldn’t have left Kaltungo that day.

“We never can tell, that is God for you.”NTA, the government is particularly with you at this trying moment.

“We know they were very close to us but we couldn’t have been better close to them than you.

“When the accident happened,  I was so moved, I have never been so moved, so worried about an incident like that.

“Take this from us that these are our colleagues on a daily basis; many of them come here to see us or take some news.

“We cannot pay for any life lost. Gov Yahaya has directed that we should give the family this token, that is, burial expenses,” he said.

Speaking earlier, Alhassan Yahya, the national president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), thanked Mr Yahaya for his support since the accident.

Mr Yahya recalled how the NUJ lost seven journalists to a road crash in 2017 in Plateau, six in 2019 in Akwa Ibom and also in Adamawa.

He said that such deaths underscored the need to strategise on how to ensure health and life insurance for journalists.

He said by March, the union would be launching a new insurance premium for all practising journalists in the country to improve their health and well-being.

Mr Yahya said that through the health insurance, the union would reduce out-of-pocket expenses, increase universal health coverage and reduce maternal mortality amongst women journalists.

Abubukar Adamu, the general manager of NTA Gombe, said he was still devastated about the incident, knowing that he could do nothing about the tragic deaths.

Mr Adamu commended the state government for its support since the tragedy happened and prayed God to console the families of the deceased.

(NAN)