17th September, 2019
An emergency management agency in Nigeria’s mega city of Lagos is upbeat that it is on red alert to tackle any emergency in this ‘Ember’ month.
Ember months are September, October, November and December. During these months, accident rates are unusually high as a result of the hustling and bustling in preparation for the Yuletide.
Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, Director-General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA at a stakeholder’s meeting in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos decried rising wave of accidents during these months.
He was hosting the Director-General, FCT Emergency Management Agency, Abbas Idriss at the stakeholder’s meeting on road traffic accidents in Lagos.
The emergency safety boss echoed his boss, Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s direction that he was out to ensure safety of lives and property in Lagos.
“LASEMA has looked into the issues of road traffic accident and our statistics showed that it is the major source of death in Nigeria, Africa and all over the world. We as managers should place emergency on red alert. Lagos is a cosmopolitan state and we must ensure that it is safe in this ember months.
“We called this meeting to brainstorm on how to reduce mortality in the country. We have LASAMBUS, zonal offices, accident and emergency centres stakeholders here for us to brainstorm to see how we can work to achieve the mission of this administration,” he says.
Oke-Osanyintolu hinted of plans by government to establish an emergency Institute to boost emergency and rescue operations within the state, but noted that government was already boosting the operational capacity of the agency and would continue building the capacity of all critical stakeholders.
Appealing to the populace to see emergency and rescue operations as a collaborative effort that involved the public, he added that the state government would also strengthen the capacity of the local response teams across all the local governments.
Earlier one of the stakeholders at the meeting, Mr. Bolade Oyegbami revealed that a mobile app connected to the state’s emergency call centre would soon be unveiled to boost rescue operations within the state.