By Bilesanmi Olalekan

Dr Wale Ahmed is Lagos State  Commissioner for Special Duties. Ahead of the demolition of  some defective buildings at Oke Afa, Isolo, he presented  N200,000 each to the occupants  to relocate. In this piece, he explains how  the state government is assisting  victims of emergencies  even as he appeals to Lagosians(particularly those in flood prone areas) to relocate because of the anticipated intensity of  forthcoming rains.

Lagos State government has put in place drainage infrastructure so that no matter the level of flood we have, the flood water would recede after sometime. But in certain areas like the natural low line areas, they  will naturally get flooded. And these low line areas are not supposed to be habitable in the first place, they are  not supposed to be dwelling places.

File: A defective building that eventually collapsed Photo: Olu Ajayi

When you are going to Ikorodu for example, around Ajegunle, both right and left side of the express road, these areas are not supposed to be habitable because they are supposed to be some  kind of reservoir for flood water. But there are people living there;  we are urging Lagosians to take cognisance of this fact so that they can move away from these areas before the rains  become too heavy.

On our own part as government, we are getting prepared everyday in anticipation of  any unforseen thing happening. Always, prevention, they say, is better than cure. We have relief camps every where  we can keep people who are displaced by flood and similar factors. Part of that preventable action is what the state government is doing here today by giving some token(N200,000) to residents of houses that the state government has earmarked for demolition because of the defective nature. The house are located at the Low Cost Housing Estate, Oke-Afa, Isolo.

Demolition and reconstruction

The state government, after the demolition, will reconstruct and then move them back to the buildings.  We gave the occupants notices more than 10 months ago.This is a preventable action on the part of government. Also, Ministry of the Environment has developed a road map that show  high grounds and low line areas in all the local government areas.

We  have also established local emergency management committees chaired by the elected chairmen  of each of the local government areas and local council development areas. The local council chairmen have these maps and they know which are the high grounds and the low line areas in their local governments. So, when the intensity of the rains is getting too much, they know where to tell people to move to so that they will not be affected by the flood water.

The essence of these committees  is actually to shorten the response time so that if there is an emergency for example in Amuwo- Odofin, it won’t be more than 30 minutes, on a Sunday when there is less traffic, to get there. If it is a day like today(Wednesday), it may take more than 45 minutes  to one hour to get there. There is the golden time in disaster management, and that time is the minute that you get there and able to save a life or situation and we believe that with the  local emergency committee, the response to that critical moment will be shortened. You know you cannot get to the disaster site faster than those who reside there. So that if and when there is an emergency, it is this committee that will go there before the state government gets there.

Basic things

Members of the committee have been trained,  they take ownership of the situation and then inform us at the secretariat here. They know the basic  things to do to keep souls alive. If we get  to the site before them, either through our 747 or 122 or through other means, we will inform them. Another problem we do encounter in disaster site is  crowd control. True Lagosians help a lot, so you will always find them at the sites but the truth of the matter is that they are not trained to do such. The more fundamental of this situation is that the officials that are trained to carry out these  services are  prevented from getting to the site on time because of the crowd. In disaster management, time is of essence.

Dana plane crash

To underscore the importance of this point,let me tell you what happened during the Dana plane crash. While we were on our way to the site of the crash, myself and Commissioner for Health in the same vehicle, there was an ambulance in front of us, blaring siren. And you could see people competing for right of way with the ambulance. This is the reason  I am appealing to Lagosians to always give way to any emergency vehicles like fire service, ambulances,LASEMA and any other vehicle  blaring siren, that vehicle is rushing down somewhere to go and save a life and or property. The governor does not use siren, so it could not have been Governor Fashola trying to meander through the traffic. So when you hear any vehicle blaring siren, it must be going on an  assignment to rescue life  and property. These vehicles do not include bullion vans. We have stated severally that bullion vans do not have the right to blare siren.

Lagosians should also remember  numbers 767 and 112. It may just be the numbers that would save life and property in an emergency or situations  like fire, accident, robbery. If you call these numbers, the government of Lagos State has  invested so much in infrastructure  such that there are dedicated  people working 24 hours to receive your calls. There are six different agencies of the state government that are directly concerned with emergency response, that we call first respondents. These agents are there on 24-hour basis to receive your call in the command and control centre. While your call is coming through, it is immediately passed on to the agents who in turn activate the services. The call is free.