Environment
GOVERNOR Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Tuesday, September 26, stated that in order to avert disaster and the resultant loss of lives and properties in the state, his administration had scaled up the monitoring and surveillance capacities of relevant agencies to ensure compliance with appropriate laws.
The governor, who spoke through Tunji Bello, the secretary to the state government, SSG, at the Third Lagos State Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Summit themed “Promoting and Sustaining Integrated Response to Emergencies within the Golden Hour” added that the administration would also apply sanctions deemed necessary to those who run foul of the provisions.
He said the government believed that taking necessary steps and precautions to avert disaster where possible is an integral part of effective disaster and emergency management, stressing that poor emergency management can result in substantial reversal of gains recorded in critical sectors of the economy.
He explained that the government might not have control over the occurrence of a natural disaster but could mitigate the effects when such occurred depending on government’s preparedness in terms of skilled manpower, availability of necessary equipment and response time.
Ambode stated that the recent events in some parts of the state had reinforced the need for the government to take proactive steps to avert disasters and possible loss of lives and property.
He reiterated the firm commitment of the present administration to the promotion of safety and emergency management culture by adopting best practices and deploying best resources available.
The governor stressed that this year’s theme was more appropriate, as some parts of the country and the world were witnessing an unprecedented increase in cases of flooding, mudslides, earthquakes, and hurricanes among others.
He said the state government also shared the vision of the neighbouring DAWN states in promoting effective, sustainable emergency response templates and ultimately every citizen’s safety while stressing that the state government was open to learning from states that had faced such challenges.
He said one of the key steps taken by his administration to promote greater efficiency among the various departments and agencies with responsibility for managing emergencies in the state was the creation of the Safety Arena.
“The idea is to bring together these agencies whose duties are dependent and complementary within the same complex. These agencies include the Fire Service Department; Environmental Health Department; Lagos State Ambulance Service, LASAMBUS; State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit, SEHMU; Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA; Lagos Safety Commission; Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA; Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps, LNSC; Nigerian Legion amongst others,” he said.
Ambode, therefore, called on all participants to effectively utilise the opportunity made available at this summit to review existing strategies, identify the gaps and proffer solutions that will enhance the capacity response to emergencies within the shortest time possible.
Earlier in his remarks, Oluseye Oladejo, the commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations, noted that in a bid to continually promote prompt response management, the ministry organised the summit to plan, partner and share experiences with various organizations so as to ensure that the capability improvement process was strengthened and sustained.
He urged all attendees to make the best use of the opportunity and endeavour to provide feedback to the state government on how to promote safety and make emergency management more sustainable.
– Sept 26, 2017 @ 17:07 GMT /
Tags: GOVERNOR Akinwunmi Ambode LASG Increases Monitoring of Agencies responsible for Disaster Management the secretary to the state government Tunji Bello
