Ogun wants national fire laws domesticated

WORRIED by the spate of flagrant abuse of the fire safety laws by owners of some petrol stations and companies across the country, the Ogun State Director of Fire Services, Mr. Akanbi Obiwunmi has advocated the need for states government to domesticate the recently approved National Fire Code Laws.

The director who was quoted in a statement issued by the spokesman in the Ministry Of Works And Infrastructure, Mr.Ayokunle Ewuoso said the existing fire laws have made fire service “toothless bulldogs”, thereby making it not to be able to sanction appropriately unscrupulous owners of petrol stations and companies who were in the habit of flagrantly disobeying the fire code regulations in different states.

He said: “Fire service is not the only approving authority as regards allowing people to establish petrol stations or companies. We are just a part of the approving authorities.

In most cases these petrol dealers or owners of companies would have built their structures, commenced operations and even gotten approvals from other relevant authorities before coming to fire service which is completely illegal.

We are expected by the laws governing their establishment to have visited the proposed location of the business to carry out site inspections and clearance before the establishment of such venture.

The problem here is that once they have been given approvals by other relevant authorities it becomes difficult for us to sanction them”