By Sarah NEGEDU
Stakeholders are currently reviewing the circumstances surrounding the recent fire incident that razed down the Next Cash and Carry Shopping Mall at Kado, with a view of mapping out a safety module for shopping complexes.
The review meeting held at the instance of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Hajiya Sadiya Umar Faroukh is expected to produce a joint report by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, FCT Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, and the FCT Fire Service.
Declaring the meeting open, the Director- General of FEMA, Alh. Abbas Idriss, assured that the report will contain both coordination and response aspects. “We will come up with very good recommendations on both sides, which will be a yardstick for the government to take the right decision in ensuring public safety in our public buildings.
“The most important thing is that when we identify the problems, we must provide possible and implementable recommendations that are measurable and achievable, he said.
The Director General NEMA, Ahmed Habib, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Operations, Alh Bashir Garba, stated that the current state of safety modules and measures especially in mega cities like Lagos and Abuja call for concern.
“Our safety modules and measures are in shambles, the earlier we accept them the better; fire incidences have become a recurring decimal in our national life, if it’s not in Abuja, it’s in Lagos, it’s in Kano, it’s in Port Harcourt, dealing with the mega cities.”
He requested that the report harmonization process expand its scope towards owners of big edifice “to rejig their safety measures.”
