Governor Kayode Fayemi
Toba Suleiman in Ado-Ekiti
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has blamed the frequent fire disasters in the South-west on the inability of governors in the zone to provide the necessary equipment for agencies responsible for fire fighting to discharge their responsibilities
Speaking at a sensitisation programme on Emergency Drill and Evacuation for stakeholders in fire fighting in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital yesterday, NEMA’s Coordinator for the South-west, Mr. Babatunde Adebiyi, lamented that the nation’s fire service personnel were handicapped in discharging their duties because the state governors in the zone had neglected the agency.
Stakeholders present during the sensitisation programme, include NEMA officials, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) officials, Fire Service officials, Members of the Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Police and the Red Cross. Adebiyi lamented that Ekiti State had the highest number of fire incidents in the whole of the South- west, stressing that the assessment of the state revealed that there was no water hydrant point to assist fire fighters during fire outbreaks.
He said this was why fire fighters in the state had been facing a herculean tasks to put out fire whenever there was an emergency.
Adebiyi said the fire fighters would have succeeded in putting out the fire, which destroyed a whole building at the School of Nursing, Ado-Ekiti early his year, if the necessary support had been given the agency.
Adebiyi said many public buildings were built with no emergency exit doors and fire extinguishers in many of them were non functional.
He said going round the state, especially in Ado-Ekiti the state capital, it was discovered that hydrant water points were practically absent where government institutions were located.
According to him, water hydrant point should be located within 50 metres distance from each other.
He noted highlighted some of the necessary equipment needed in some public institutions to include water hydrant, emergency exit, fire extinguisher among other things.
He urged members of the public not to panic whenever there was fire outbreaks, adding that panic would make them forget the safety measures they were supposed to take to extinguish the fire.
To make disaster management more effective, Adebiyi said the state governments across the nation should set up Local Emergency Management Agency in all local government areas in the country.