Mr. Olushola Shokunle, Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Special Duties has advocated that each building should have a fire extinguisher to curb fire disasters in the state.
Shokunle made the suggestion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday.
He said, “If we can come up with a law that will mandate each building to have fire extinguishers, it will go a long way to prevent some fire incidents.
“If any fire comes up, the people can battle the fire before the arrival of fire services agents to the scene.
“Fire starts little before escalating; most of the fire cases can be prevented with fire extinguishers as small as 5kg. Many of them can be tackled; it is good.’’
The lawmaker, who expressed regrets that people only resort to the use of water in cases of fire incidents, said that the committee would review some of the state’s safety laws.
He added that some laws in the state fire service and penalties were outdated and needed urgent review.
The lawmaker, who described the fine of N200 prescribed for safety offenders as ridiculous, said that fines should be reasonable and meet reality of the time.
According to him, the committee will work with the executive arm to review some of the laws and enact a law to mandate each house to have fire extinguishers to combat emergencies.
Shokunle (PDP-Oshodi/Isolo I) said that gridlock, bad roads, poor accessibility, and human errors, had been affecting the response time during emergency.
He said the international standard of three minutes response time would be difficult to attain if the factors were not tackled.
He said the state government was targeting 10 minutes response time in spite of all hindering factors.
“We thank the Lagos State Government for the creation of safety commission.
“What the ministry is trying to do is to have at least a fire services station in each local government area and local council development area.
“If this is achievable, it will be very easy to reduce our response time like that of developed countries. All the delays will be taken care of; lives and property will be saved.
“If the safety station is not too far away from the scene of incidents, there will be no much challenge in accessing the place in a good time.’’
He expressed optimism that the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA) would also have its offices in each council area to aid response time.
He stressed the need to review some of the laws and enhance enforcement to make the society safer.
The Guardian
