Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Friday, said the state government was considering a series of tough decisions to curtail the “recklessness” of traders across markets, which resulted in fire incidents.
He said this while receiving the leadership of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), led by its newly appointed Director-General, Zubaida Umar, at the State House in Marina.
The NEMA national leadership team was in Lagos to sympathise with the state government on the fire disaster that razed no fewer than 14 multi-storey buildings and destroyed assets worth millions in Dosunmu market on Lagos Island on Tuesday.
While decrying the fire incident, Mr Sanwo-Olu expressed disappointment at the “reckless handling of flammable materials” in the market.
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The governor noted that before the fire incident, the state government had conducted a sensitisation programme for traders on the need to refrain from acts that could potentially endanger their lives and their trading environment.
He said it was disheartening that some traders were still “reckless and inconsiderate.”
Mr Sanwo-Olu said firefighters arrived at the fire scene on time and could have saved some of the razed assets, but the responders could not access the fire source due to obstruction along the tiny street.
The governor, who noted that 120 tanks of water were used up before the inferno was brought under control, commended the first responders from both the state and federal governments for their round-the-clock action to salvage the situation and stop the spread of the fire.
The NEMA leadership’s visit came just as the Lagos State’s emergency response team was winding up its recovery effort at the fire scene.
Mr Sanwo-Olu conveyed his appreciation to the agency’s boss for the prompt deployment of first responders from NEMA to join the state’s emergency response team in combating the inferno minutes after the alert was sent out.
He disclosed that the state government had commenced enumeration of the razed area to ascertain the loss of the traders and to support them to get back on their feet.
This data, he said, would be shared with NEMA to help the agency properly channel its support for the affected traders.
Mrs Umar said the visit was to show solidarity with the Lagos State government and to show support to the first responders who had remained at the scene since the incident occurred.
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She pledged that NEMA would raise its awareness and sensitisation on power utilisation in closely built markets to minimise the risk of fire and mitigate emergencies.
PREMIUM TIMES reports that in the aftermath of the fire outbreak, Mr Sanwo-Olu directed that commercial activities in Dosunmu Street and its immediate environs be suspended immediately until further notice.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Central Business Distress (CBD), Bola Lawal, announced the closure and suspension when she led a delegation to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
According to Mrs Lawal, the markets affected by the closure include Dosunmu, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Moshalashi, Woro Pedro, Obanikoro Street, Ago Tawa, Idumagbo Avenue, Idumagbo, Ido–Oluwo and Oju Olobun Street.
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