The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, has warned mischievous individuals to desist from spreading falsehoods against the operations of the Lagos emergency toll free lines 112 and 767 or face sanctions.
This follows a viral video of a man on social media platforms in an alleged scripted accident scene, saying the emergency toll free lines 112 and 767 are scam.
Dr Oke-Osanyintolu who boasted that many states in the country have been to Lagos to understudy Disaster and Emergency operations due to its efficiency slam mischievous individuals of trying to undermine the efforts of first responders in Lagos which will not be tolerated.
PS LASEMA hinted that with over 30 years in emergency operations in Lagos, Nigeria and internationally said he will not fold his arms and allow people with disgruntled minds sweep all his achievements under the carpet, stressing that over 16 million calls were received on the emergency toll free lines in the last one year with over 67% of it are false calls just to see if the lines were working.
Dr Oke-Osanyintolu read riot acts of stiffer penalty on anyone caught especially citizen journalists in social media platforms spreading misinformation and disinformation among LASEMA and the Lagos Command and Control Center, LSCCC.
He maintained that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration has invested heavily in sophisticated emergency equipment to protect lives of residents and their property.
The LASEMA PS cautioned the Media against using unverified stories on social media, saying their should be fairness and balance in reportage, maintaining that his office is open for any journalist to verify issues and clarify stories before publication for the medium’s integrity.
However, Dr Oke-Osanyintolu admitted their is room for more improvement especially in the area of building the capacity of call receivers at the LSCCC, noting that inhumane responses may trigger residents anger during emergency cases.
The LASEMA Boss assured residents of Lagos that his Agency will continue to be at the front burner if Disaster and Emergency in Lagos, noting that with the Institute of Disaster Management and Logistics at Igando, first responders would be trained and retrained on professionalism.
Written by Yemisi Dada