The total negligence to enforcement of existing laws on safety couple with non-compliance with safety measures have being identified as a stumbling block to Nigeria’s global competitiveness across all sectors.
Gbenga Daniel, former governor of Ogun State, stated that once we enforce our laws, we would have a different attitude to safety.
Daniel, while speaking at the 2017 conference and annual general meeting of the Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers (NISE) regretted that most of the people who perpetrate atrocities that claimed many lives get away without commensurate penalty.
According to Daniel, “In Nigeria we have so many cases of building collapse, road accidents, fire incidents among others and most of them are not investigated not to talk of penalising those responsible.”
Daniel who was represented by Dideolu Falobi, the managing director of Kresta Laurel Limited, said most of the building collapses in the country were due to lack of proper mortgage system.
He tasked the Nigerian Society of Engineers to ensure that every registered engineer becomes a member of the NISE. There should also be training packages such that every member of the institution must undergo the training before being certified as a safety engineer.
Abiodun Oyedepo, national chairman of NISE, said superlative industrial and public safety could become reality in Nigeria if safety and building laws are updated.
Oyedepo urged Nigerians to imbibe and implement safety procedures and policies in their respective sphere of influence. “There is need for safety contract between government and the governed, between employers and employees to ensure and assure the safety of persons, processes, facilities, and structures, among others.
On his part, Allen Onyema, chairman/CEO Air Peace, while speaking at the conference tagged: “Assuring Public Safety in Nigeria-The Roles of Safety Engineers,” insisted that Nigerian engineers must first deepen their capacity for handling aircraft maintenance before airlines would be comfortable to fully put them in charge of catering to their engineering needs.
Onyema, who was represented by the corporate communications manager of Air Peace, Chris Iwarah, assured that he was anxious to see the end of the current trend where domestic airlines relied on expatriates for their major engineering operations.
