Lagos records 5497 emergencies in four years

Lagos State government on Tuesday revealed that 5497 emergencies were recorded in the last four years in the state.

The Permanent Secretary, of Lagos State Management Emergency Agency (LASEMA), Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu, revealed this at a briefing on the agency’s activities for 2022.

He disclosed: “In the last four years, collated data has revealed that LASEMA attended to 1,029 incidents in 2019; 1,043 incidents in 2020; 1,743 incidents in 2021 and 1,682 incidents in 2022.”

He added that in 2022, out of the 1,682 incidents LASEMA attended to, 165 incidents occurred in January, 155 incidents in February, 148 incidents in March, 107 incidents in April, 160 incidents in May, and 112 incidents in June 2022 during the first half of the year.

“In the second half of 2022, the agency responded to 126 incidents in July, 140 in August, 148 incidents in September, 141 in October, 124 in November and 156 incidents in December as of 31st December 2022.”

Oke-Osanyintolu stated that the data for 2022 revealed that the highest number of incidents in a month was recorded in January 2022 with 165 incidents, while the least number of incidents occurred in April 2022 with 107 incidents recorded.

“On the part of the 20 local councils, the data revealed that Alimosho Local Council recorded the highest with a response to 239 incidents in 12 months, while Ikeja Local Council recorded the second highest with 200 incidents and Oshodi/Isolo LG recorded the third highest number of incidents with 165 incidents in 2022.

“Over time, collated data had revealed new trends in emergency occurrence as development and economic activities continued to increase across the state. These new and increasing economic activities have in turn, impinged directly and indirectly, on emerging forms of emergency/disasters, with a spiral effect, thus the need to fashion out new approaches to emerging issues in disaster management.

“A major disaster at the tail end of 2021 was a clear example of these emerging issues and fortunately, much of 2022 was spent building capacity and upgrading resources and equipment for first responders.”

Oke-Osanyintolu further said the goal for the new is to ensure a response to emergencies within five to ten minutes. He also said that efforts aimed at ensuring a better-coordinated emergency response led to the drawing up of a five-year strategic road map on emergency management.

“We believe that the resilience of Lagos State has been strengthened to cover the increased geographic spread as well as diversification of transport modes.”