23rd June, 2015
Eromosele Ebhomele
The Lagos State House of Assembly, Southwestern Nigeria, on Tuesday commenced an investigation into the death of an official of the state Fire Service while calling on the state government to upgrade facilities at the fire agency.
Olumide Ogunubi, the victim, was said to have met his death while on a rescue mission.
The lawmaker representing Epe Constituency 2 at the House, Segun Olulade, who raised the motion during plenary, told his colleagues that the fire fighter was attached to Ikotun Fire Service Station and that he died while trying to save a plumber, who was digging a well.
Olulade said the belt used by Ogunubi cut while he was attempting to rescue the plumber.
The committee set up by the House to investigate the death of the government official has Rotimi Olowo, Sola Giwa, Adefunmilayo Tejuosho, Solaja Saka as members while Omotayo Oduntan is the chairman of the committee.
“If it is not well investigated, it would affect the morale of fire fighters in the state and in the country. He died in active service.
“We should call on the state government to upgrade the fire service equipment in the state and update the Fire Service Law of 1972,” Olulade appealed to his colleagues.
Supporting Olulade, his colleague, Rotimi Olowo, appealed to the state government, the Ministry of Physical and Urban Planning and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure that areas in the state have access to water.
Another lawmaker, Lanre Ogunyemi, urged the state government to be pro-active and do something about preventable deaths in the state while calling the incident a wake-up call to Ministries, Departments and Agencies to embark on risk assessment in order to be abreast of the level risks their staff are exposed to.
In his contribution, Tobun Abiodun urged his colleagues to call on the state government to upgrade the equipment of the fire service department.
Tejuosho said it was time to overhaul the equipment of the fire service department just as Gbolahan Yishawu noted that the state does not have safety laws and that most workmen in the state work with obsolete equipment.
“We need a health and safety law in the state. We should wait for the investigation to know if it was equipment that was bad,” Yishawu said.
The Chief Whip of the House, Rotimi Abiru, reminded his colleagues that the incident under deliberation was not that of fire and that the equipment should be well defined.
He asked that the House should come up with an amendment to the law on fire incident and condone with the family of the deceased.
Contributing, Bisi Yusuf said appealed to the state government to provide water for the people so that they would stop digging well to get water.
The Majority Leader, Sanai Agunbiade, however clarified the notion that there is no law on safety in the state.
He told his colleagues that there is Lagos State Safety Commission Law of 2013, but said the state government needed to come up with amendment to the 1972 Fire Fighting Law.
The motion was accepted as a resolution of the House after it was granted approval by Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa.