I wish to bring to the attention of the relevant agency of the Lagos State Government, responsible for enforcing compliance to safety rules, to rise to the occasion immediately before another gas explosion occurs in the state and prevent another round of crocodile tears by those who should have prevented such an occurrence abinitio.
I need them to drive to Oluyeye Street adjacent Ajibulu Street in the Oja area of Oshodi and inspect a building used to dispense cooking gas located in a residential area. In recent times, Lagos has witnessed cases of gas explosions occurring in facilities the agencies of government failed to detect during random inspection or blatantly refused and failed to close down having been compromised leading to unnecessary tragedies and deaths.
It is only the Lagos State Government that will explain how stores containing gas cylinders will be allowed to store gas cylinders and operate in densely populated neighbourhoods in the state. This is nothing other than a case of institutional weakness and leadership inertia.
Government owes the citizens a duty to protect them from needless deaths by regulating economic environment and ensuring adherence to rules and regulations. We all saw the devastation caused by the last gas explosion in the Ayobo area of the state, simply because someone failed to do their job. Sadly, no onehad yet to be punished for the dereliction of duty resulting in the loss of lives and property.
So, before Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu begins to issue tepid condolence statements, something urgent should be done about gas dispensing outlets in residential areas which agencies of the state have lookedBefore another Lagos explosion occurs the other way why they operate. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
Umaru Yakoob,
Baderin Street, Oshodi, Lagos State:
