Emergency Lagos – Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Tuesday said he was committed to strengthening emergency and disaster management and securing lives and properties of residents across the state. Ambode, who was represented by Mr Tunji Bello, Secretary to the State Government, made the pledge at a Stakeholders’ Meeting on Public Advocacy for the Prevention, Mitigation and Rescue of Emergency Occurrence in Lagos State. The meeting was organised by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, under the supervision of the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations. He said statistics had revealed that the rate of disaster and emergencies in Nigeria, especially Lagos, was high, and required optimal attention by government and relevant stakeholders. “This statistics made it compelling to have this meeting to review our position in disaster prevention and management and re-strategise for prompt response to emergencies, to make the state a safe haven for all. “This meeting will also sensitise, educate and enlighten our people on causes of disaster, prevention and management, as well as their roles in mitigating disaster. “As a government, we are committed to increasing capability and cooperation among state agencies charged with disaster and emergency management as first responders. “It is our duty to get our people prepared at all times in responding to distress that may affect them from time to time,” he said. Ambode said the government was set to
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]establish a third relief/resettlement camp in Ayeteju in Lekki, to add to the other two in Agbowa, Ikorodu and Igando in Alimosho. The governor urged residents to make use of the facilities provided by the State Government to prevent and manage disasters. He said incidences of disaster could be mitigated if everyone was safety conscious, urging residents to make use of the 767 and112 emergency lines when necessary. Earlier in his remark, the Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, Mr Seye Oladejo said the programme was initiated by the governor. He said it was initiated to build capacity and create awareness for residents on prevention and mitigation of emergency occurrences in the state “I wish to observe that Lagos State has a unique feature as it is the economic and commercial nerve centre of the country which makes it vulnerable to emergency and disaster occurrences. “These include air crash, boat mishap, traffic accident, collapsed building, fire outbreak, robberies, landslide, epidemic, floods, tanker, accident with accompanying fire amongst others,’’ Oladejo said. He said emergency management was a collaborative effort, urging NGOs, relevant agencies and the public to continue to work as partners-in-progress in handling it. The General Manager, LASEMA, Mr Michael Akindele, on his part, said challenges confronting emergency responders would be discussed with ways of checkmating them. He said such challenges include difficulty in crowd management as well as attack of law enforcement and emergency officers. Akindele said that LASEMA, in addition to 750 local emergency responders, would also get 50 emergency response volunteers in 57 Local Government and Local Council Development Areas totalling 2,850 volunteers. According to him, this will enhance the capacity of the emergency agencies in the state. He said this would help in reducing response time, which was also known as golden hours in emergency management parlance.(NAN)