The Director General National Emergency Management Agency Mrs Zubaida Umar has led a team of the Agency to Lagos State over the recent fire incident at the popular Dosumu market and also met with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to discuss strengthening synergy towards disaster management in the State.
Mrs Umar, during a courtesy on the Lagos State Governor, Mr Sanwo-Olu sympathized with the Government and people of the State, especially those affected by the inferno and offered NEMA’s willingness to support them.
She emphasized the need for business owners and traders to take advantage of insurance coverage to provide for recovery from losses from disasters such as market fires.
While expressing concerns over the incessant occurrence of market fires, she said some of these were avoidable and urged traders to take seriously, risk awareness and advocacy for safety often carried out to sensitise them to avoid the risk that expose markets to the dangers of fire and other disasters.
The Director General NEMA, Mrs Umar commended the Governor of Lagos State for his commitment to disaster management in the state.
Responding, Governor Sanwo-Olu appreciated the DG NEMA and her team for the visit and commended NEMA and other response agencies for their prompt response to the recent fire incident.
He noted that though over 120 water tankers and 20 fire trucks were deployed in the aftermath of the incident, these could hardly achieve the desired result because of access challenges and the preponderance of combustible materials in the market. Therefore, he said decisions were taken to pull down some of the already affected buildings to create access for the responders to put out the fires.
The Governor said the State Government was open to any support that NEMA could give as efforts were also being made to assess the damages and profiling of those affected.
On the issue of sensitization, he said it has become necessary to sustain risk awareness creation as part of measures to mitigate against disasters, using all available avenues including advocacies.
He said, “we all have responsibilities going forward to safeguard lives and property.”
The Director General NEMA team comprised the Director Search and Rescue Air Commodore Kennedy R Matalowu, Director of Planning Research and Forecasting Dr Ominode Bandele Abdullahi, Special Assistant to the DG Mr Idris Abubakar Mohammed, Ag Director South West Mr Stephen Adewale, Head NEMA Lagos Territorial Office Mr Ibrahim Farinloye and Chief Search and Rescue Officer Mr Atabo Daniel.
After the courtesy call from the Lagos State Governor, the DG NEMA and her team were led by the officials of the state in physically inspecting the burnt market. The Commissioner of Special Duties Mr Olugbenga Oyerinde in the company of the Permanent Secretary Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Dr Osayintulo Femi-Oke led the DG NEMA on the inspection of the disaster site. After that, the DG NEMA also visited the offices and some facilities of LASEMA. She was also at the NEMA Lagos Territorial /South West zonal office at Ikeja.
