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House seeks amendment of Lagos Fire Service Law of 1972

By Wole Oyebade
24 June 2015   |   2:02 am
Lagos State House of Assembly has called on the executive arm of government to come up with a bill to amend the Lagos State Fire Service Law of 1972. The amendment was in view of the need to bring the enabling law up to date with modern fire safety equipment for the firefighters. Meanwhile, the…

Darley Fire Truck for Lagos State Fire ServiceLagos State House of Assembly has called on the executive arm of government to come up with a bill to amend the Lagos State Fire Service Law of 1972.

The amendment was in view of the need to bring the enabling law up to date with modern fire safety equipment for the firefighters.

Meanwhile, the House has also ordered an investigation into the immediate and remote cause of the death of a fire fighter, Olumide Ogunnubi.

Meeting at Tuesday’s plenary, member of the House, Segun Olulade, raised the issue under matters of urgent public importance, informing his colleagues that Ogunnubi, attached to Ikotun Fire Service station, met his untimely death, while trying to rescue a plumber who fell into a well.

According to Olulade, Ogunnubi went to attend to an emergency call and in the process, his safety belt cut off midway into the well, leading to his untimely death.

Olulade, representing Epe I Constituency, said the development calls to question the quality of equipment used by the Lagos firefighters, considering that the enabling law is also obsolete with little or no effort made to update it.

In his words: “If the incident is not well investigated, it would affect the morale of fire fighters in the state and in the country. He (Ogunnubi) died in active service.

“We should also call on the state government to upgrade the fire service equipment and update the Fire Service Law of 1972,” Olulade said.

Contributing to the matter, lawmaker representing Somolu I Constituency, Rotimi Olowo, said the state government, the Ministry of Physical and Urban Planning and the Ministry of Water Resources should ensure that his areas have access to water.

Also, Lanre Ogunyemi commended the mover of the motion, adding that the state government should be proactive and do something about preventable deaths.

He said that it was a wake-up call to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to do risk assessment to know the risks their staff are exposed to.

Another lawmaker, Tobun Abiodun, representing Epe II Constituency, observed that the Motion was straightforward and that the state government should be called upon to upgrade the equipment of the fire service department.

Funmilayo Tejuosho from Mushin I Constituency, in her contribution, called for the overhaul of the equipment of the fire service department, while her colleague, Gbolahan Yishawu, said the state does not have safety laws and that most workmen work with obsolete equipment.

The Chief Whip of the House, Hon. Rotimi Abiru, who said that the incident was not a fire incident and that equipment should be well defined, added that the House should come up with an amendment to the law on fire incident and condole the family of the deceased.

The Majority Leader, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, however, clarified the notion that there is no law on safety in the state, adding that there is Lagos State Safety Commission Law of 2013. He said that the state government should come up with amendment to the 1972 Fire Fighting Law.

In announcing the Motion as a resolution of the House, the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, announced the composition of an Ad-hoc Committee, to be headed by the Deputy Chief-Whip, Hon. Omotayo Oduntan, to investigate the matter. Members of the committee are Saka Solaja, Sola Giwa, Rotimi Olowo and Funmilayo Tejuosho.

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