The Lagos State Government has unveiled three newly constructed fire service stations and upgraded the headquarters of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue service in Ikeja.
The new fire stations are situated at Ebute Elefun in Lagos Island Council Area, Ajegunle in Ajeromi Ifelodun LCDA and Oniru in Iru Victoria Island LCDA.
Inaugurating the Fire stations simultaneously from the Ebute-Elefun station, Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu explained that his administration had planned to build six additional fire stations in line with the vision of making Lagos, a twenty-four century economy and urged residents to take ownership.
The Governor said “We are convinced that the construction of these new Fire Stations will allow us a quicker response time in the event of emergencies and we can cover the nooks and crannies of the State and be ready in case of any eventualities”
The Oniru Fire Station was named in honour of the Iru Monarch, Oba Gbolahan Lawal.
In goodwill message, the traditional ruler commended the Sanwo-Olu’s administration for siting the fire station in Iru, putting an end to dependence by the people of Iruland on the Marina and Chevron fire stations during fire outbreaks.
Oba Gbolahan Lawal urged corporate organisations within the environs to adopt the fire station as well as support the officers to ensure longevity of the Station and equipment.
“A prepared community can make a huge difference during emergencies and help save lives. We, stakeholders and partners, will continue to play a key role towards keeping our community safe and secure. I also appeal to individuals and corporate entities within the entire Eti-Osa LGA to kindly adopt and support this public facility, as well as others to sustain and maintain them as this is essential to ensure longevity and continued service”
“Lagos has evolved in emergency management, unlike in the past when we rely on private companies for assistance during accidents and emergencies, you can see the work LASEMA is doing, it won’t be out of place for Lagos to also have an Emergency Trust Fund, just like we have in Security Trust Fund, which corporate entities and private individuals in Lagos support, and since then, we have not had any major bank robbery Lagos is a resilient city, so we also do the same for emergencies” he stated.
The Iru-Victoria Island Council Chairman, Princess Rashidat Adu, who also commended the Governor promised that as the closest arm of government to the grassroots, she and her team would take it upon themselves to educate the people, especially market men and women on fire preventive measures.
“These are our people, they know us and we know them and we can also speak the language which they understand more, that is to pass the message across to them indepth, for the fire service officials, they will have less work to do in Iru-Victoria Island because of the sensitization” she said.
The Special Adviser to the Governor in the ministry, Mobolaji Ogunlende, said the need for the new fire stations was conceived to overcome the challenge of distance and quicken the response time of service while the rehabilitated ones would bring a new work place experience to fire office
Giving a brief on the project, the General Manager of the State Fire and Rescue service, Mrs Margaret Adeseye, stated that the newly constructed fire service stations would serve a population of over five million residents.
Correspondent Omolara Omosanya reports that about sixty two fire fighting vehicles and over five hundred newly recruited personnel for the agency will be unveiled in Ikeja on Thursday.
