Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu is the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), an agency responsible for disaster management in Lagos State. In this interview with GBENGA ADERANTI, he explains the efforts being made by the agency to combat disasters, the near-death experiences of the staff, the challenges of managing disaster scenes, and the reasons for rising cases of building collapse, among other topics.
In the first half of this year, Lagos State lost about 65 people to disasters, and if you look at the trend, its building collapse has often been responsible for a good number of the avoidable deaths. What could have been responsible for this?
When you are looking at it, you have to look at it holistically. You have to look at the number we saved, the mortalities. You will discover that mortalities associated with collapsed buildings have greatly reduced. And if you look at the ethology of the collapsed building in Lagos State, you will discover that it is due more to human-made factors. What do I mean by human-made? It is because people do not keep to the rules and regulations. There are clear building codes in Lagos. There are ministries that are responsible for ensuring that our buildings do not collapse, but you will discover that a lot of people flout the order. A lot of people flout building codes, and the most interesting thing to us, which is pathetic, is that they will be constructing buildings at night. They will be constructing buildings at weekends when they know that enforcement personnel are not on the ground, and you will discover that this is what they are doing; they don’t realise that safety and emergency management are everyone’s business.
I’m an emergency responder. The agency that is responsible for building in Lagos, like LASBCA, will have more to say on this; even the Ministry of Physical Planning will have more to say.
I have cause to see you twice or more on TV at night at the disaster scenes. How difficult is this?
Well, we have been doing this for over two decades. Initially, it was difficult, but now, it is part and parcel of us. We work 24 hours, and we ensure the safety of life and property. We are passionate about what we are doing, and our scorecard is in the hands of the people, the hands of the chief incident commander in Lagos State, the governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu. And when you are privileged to be put in that position, you do everything humanly possible to ensure the safety of lives and property.
The major challenge of emergency responders like LASEMA is the crowd. Most often, they impede rescuers from managing disasters and emergencies. How are you coping with this?
It is not an easy thing, I must confess to you, and it boils down to the orientation and the attitudes of our people. Some, during the emergency, are there to loot instead of assisting the victims. Some are there because they are reacting spontaneously to an emergency on the ground. They don’t have the technology, they don’t have the experience, they don’t have what it takes or the knowledge to handle any form of emergency. They just realise that there is a fire, an emergency, or a life-threatening situation, and they move in. Some will be taking pictures, while others will be sending mixed signals on all the social media platforms. It is a pathetic situation, and it boils down to orientation; it boils down to how we value one another, how we value ourselves.
Crowds always impede emergency and disaster management because they won’t allow us to work properly, they won’t allow us to put our machinery or equipment to work, and they will be impeding our activities, so it is not something we encourage.
However, there are emergency responders that are responsible for handling the crowd control, that is, the Neighbourhood, the police, and the civil defence; they play an active role in ensuring they handle the crowd during any emergency.
One thing I have noticed is that during any disaster, most often than not, emotion runs high. Was there a time your life was threatened in the course of doing this job?”
Yes, people threaten us, but we are the unsung heroes; we know we are serving humanity, and it is not about people praising us. They don’t praise the kind of job we are doing, but you know, you should put your best to ensure the protection of lives and property.
I can recall that during the 21-story building collapse in Ikoyi, a lot of people were trapped there. While we were being strategic in ensuring that we rescue those who were trapped, people were abusing us, people started saying a lot of things, but we know we must not listen to them; we must be disciplined and focused.
In all the jobs you have done, which of them would you regard as the most difficult?
Well, moving to the Northeast, being inside a military helicopter is a very, very challenging situation. Trying as much as possible to help the IDPs, during the insurgency in the Northeast, was very very challenging because the language barrier is there, because you want to do a lot of things, you want to ensure you put a lot of things in place, and you will be flying from one place to the other, where we have bandits on ground, very very challenging.
I thought the agency was restricted to Lagos…
When I was a special adviser in the Presidency, I encountered all these. I performed that role, I was a Special Adviser on Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency.
Most agencies often complain that the non-availability of equipment hampers their performance. How equipped is LASEMA to realise its mandate?
LASEMA is well-equipped, really, but we can still have more. When you are talking about a situation where you are handling emergencies all over Lagos State, you will still need more equipment, but Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu is doing the best for us to have equipment.
Is LASEMA collaborating with the private sector?
We do. We have an MOU with the private sector. Like Julius Berger, like the private sector that assists in the construction of roads, we have an MOU with them, and they always assist us.
Despite the efforts of the government in making compliance with some regulatory codes, there is a challenge of enforcement in Lagos. There was a building collapse in the Ikotun area of Lagos where many Nigerians and foreigners died, yet nothing happened, and the building was still constructed….*
The case is in court. When a case is in court, you don’t do anything until the court process finishes.
I remember that former Lagos Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, equipped LASEMA. How intact is this equipment right now?
We have been using that equipment.
How responsive is the agency to disasters?
The agency normally responds to disasters swiftly, promptly and in a well-coordinated way, and we work hand in hand with all other stakeholders.
Where are we seeing the agency in 2030?
You can see the agency yourself. Last week, we had the SEMA conference, where all the 36 states’ SEMA converged on Lagos, and you could see them commending the efforts of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu in Lagos. We are moving a step forward. Right now, we have a command control centre. We are building an institute on disaster management, where we hope to build capacity, and where we are going to start ensuring that we have an emergency and security cadre.
While disasters such as earthquakes and tremors are not rife in this part of the world, if they happen, does your agency have the capacity to manage such a disaster?
We have the capacity, we have the personnel, we have the geography, geology and GIS personnel.
