State of Emergency at Ojota Area: Lagos Asks Residents to Leave Olusosun Dumpsite After Fire Incident

By Sunday Okobi

The Lagos State Government on Monday directed people living around Olusosun, a sprawling community in Ojota, to relocate immediately, citing grave environmental and health hazards that might result from smoke emitting from the dumpsite.

Consequently, the state government unveiled vision zero campaign, which it said was designed to promote safety in workplaces and construction sites across the state and  ensure zero workplace accidents in the next three years.

The Director-General of Lagos State Safety Commission, Hon. Hakeem Dickson, gave the advice at a news conference he addressed at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre yesterday alongside the management team of the commission.

Fire (smoke) had last Wednesday bellowed from the Olusosun dump site, necessitating the decision of the state Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, to visit the place at two different times last week.

However, there was no death casualty recorded due to the fire incident at the dumpsite.

At the conference, Dickson urged the residents around the dumpsite to relocate immediately, noting that it had become imperative “to leave due to the environmental consequence of the smoke that keeps emitting from the site.”

He explained that the environmental hazard was the major reason the state government launched the new campaign, which according to him, was to ensure that corporate organisations and individuals “are safety conscious in the state.

“In this vein, Ambode will next month, during a three-day conference, sign a policy document on safety at the workplace. Lagos Vision Zero is a transformational approach for prevention of accident that interprets the tripod of safety, health and wellbeing at all levels at work in the state,” he said.

The director-general explained that the vision was borne out of the need “to reduce to the barest minimum, hazards and risks in workplaces in the state and ensure zero injury, zero accident, zero death as well as promote the wellbeing and health of the people.

“It is expected that at the end of the programme, a workplace safety template will be developed for the state, and by extension, guarantee the well-being of all workers in the state.

“You would also have observed series of incidences that have been happening recently which included liquefied petroleum gas explosions, fire incidents, building collapse workplace incidents among others.

“These incidents are of grave concern to the state government. This is why we have continued to sensitise the public and engaged stakeholders in order to bring safety to their consciousness and make it a lifestyle. Lagos Vision Zero is a transformational approach to prevention that portrays the tripod policy of safety, health and wellbeing at all levels at work.

“Vision zero is not about showmanship, marksmanship and definitely not about censorship but about leadership, ownership and partnership with all the stakeholders in Lagos State.”