LAGOS STATE TRAINS, INAUGURATES MARKET SAFETY MARSHALS
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| L-R: Representative of the Technical Adviser, Lagos State Safety Commission/Deputy Director, Public Safety and Well-being, Mrs Omowunmi Ibraheem; Director, Admin and Human Resource, Dr Nike Akindele; Director-General/ Chief Executive Officer, Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola; Chairman, Obanikoro and Onikoyi, CDA, Lagos Island, Mr. Sunday Ogunlana; and Baba-Oloja, Lagos Island Local Government, Alhaji Lateef Iyaniwura, during the inauguration and training of Market Marshals on safety and emergency preparedness, in Lagos... on Thursday. |
Lagos State Government has called for concerted
efforts to achieve a zero fire incident in the market places in the state with
the inauguration of Safety and Emergency Marshals.
The government through the Safety Commission said it
has become important to have market representatives that will ensure emergency
preparedness in Lagos Markets to prevent fire disaster.
Deputy Director (Public Affairs) of the Commission,
Mrs. Adewunmi Okoh, quoted the Director Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr Lanre
Mojola, while speaking at Obanikoro Market Lagos Island, as saying that the
training was designed to avail the participants on the hazards identification,
prevention, recovery, and response around the markets.
He mentioned that the past fire disasters had caused
the state in terms of compensation to the victims and also caused insurance
costs to the market men and women, and that has made the agency to recalibrate
its programme by consistently sensitising the people and train them on how to
identify hazards.
Hear him: "He said Safety is a collective
responsibility and what we have decided to do is to take samples of market men
and women and train them on principles of safety.
"Today we have brought together a team of 50
people that were being trained on market safety and they will be the first set
of market safety fire wardens in this market.
"We are trying to enlighten them, so that we do
not have any fire disaster. We are taking them through the causes of fire, the
idea of leaving the electric sockets on after work, placement of the generator
inside their shops and lack of fire extinguishers is improper. But beyond fire,
we still have risks in the market; we have others, like running and flying
cables and all that. So, It is a holistic measure on how we can have safer
markets and ensure a sustainable market with zero fire incidents going forward
in Lagos State."
Mojola stated that the delay in the convocation of the
safety team in Lagos Island market was to put the necessary measures in place.
According to him, "It is not difficult getting
the people together, we have done this in a number of smaller markets across
the state, but the reason why we have delayed the one for Lagos Island is
because we wanted to get our model right and I believe we have our model right
now because now, we have involved the Locals, CDA, CDC, the Head of Markets,
among others, so we are applying top down and bottom up approach. They will be
the first line of whistle blowers that will identify some of these infractions
and we are empowering them to report directly to us. They have become a board
where they can also regulate activities in the market, to check against
smoking, cooking, use of generators in the markets.
Earlier, the Technical Adviser, Lagos Safety
Commission, Mr. Seun Awojobi explained that markets are vital to the economic
development of the State and it remained the hub of commerce and they must be
protected from hazards such as fire outbreak, accident and others.
Awojobi who spoke through a staff of the agency, Mrs
Omowunimi Ibraheem stressed that accidents can be brought to zero if everyone
takes responsibility, as he assured that the programme would go a long way to
foster a culture of safety and ensure safer Lagos that will be envious of all.
A facilitator at the training, Mr. Adeyinka Adebiyi
exposed the participants to hazards in the markets and reeled out comprehensive
principles of safety.
Adebiyi mentioned that the agency has inaugurated the
Safety Marshals as a form of preventive mechanism to ensure there are no
infractions in the market and that people are not endangered as they will serve
as the mouth piece of the government.
He urged them to monitor other market users to ensure
they always switch off the electric sockets before leaving the markets and
comply with all safety standards to avoid any form of accident.
The Chairman, Community Development Association of the
area, Mr Sunday Ogunlana and leader of Obanikoro Market, Mr Lateef Iyaniwura,
both commended the initiative by the state government towards ensuring fire
incidents in the marketplace is reduced to its barest minimum.
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