Lagos Explosion: HURIWA Accuse Buhari Of Destroying NEMA, Other Agencies

President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has been accused by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria of destroying the National Emergency Management Agency and rendering the agency inefficient.

The right group condemned NEMA and other Lagos State Government’s funded first responders’ agency over their failure to respond to the distress calls of students trapped during the explosion that rocks the Abule Ado are in Lagos on Sunday.

HURIWA called on the Lagos State Government to set up a judicial probe panel into the explosion that saw seventeen people killed while many others were injured in the process.

The group noted that it took the first responders several hours to respond to the explosion.

HURIWA further stated that this is a sign that the Lagos State Fire Service, NEMA, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency are in need of comprehensive overhauls in order to bring them up to speed with 21st-century demands of urgency, efficiency, and effectiveness.

The human rights group in a statement released through its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko said: “Now NEMA has become an empty talking drum and a shell of its former self to an extent that a huge fire broke out in Lagos and ordinary Nigerians were there at the scenes of this Emergency and were doing the jobs of NEMA and FEDERAL and LAGOS STATE FIRE SERVICE and for at least the next one hour there were no official first responders in place.”

“This is a national scandal. NEMA needs to be overhauled and made to begin to work as it used to be before the hierarchy of that agency was politically hijacked by nonprofessionals who see it as a cash cow. The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT must act now to stem the deterioration of the national capacity to respond to emergencies.”

“From available documentary evidence it is clear that but for the swift efforts of ordinary Nigerians made up of mostly young Nigerian boys who rescued most of the students of the Bethlehem Catholic Boarding School, the number of casualties would have been multiplied. There are clear enough evidence to show that for many hours the fires raged and the victims were left to their own devices if not for the humanitarianism of those brave Lagos youths who actively coordinated effective rescue operations through unorthodox means with no facilities.”

“The Federal government must do something radical and fundamental to salvage the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) from its current deteriorated standards. On the part of the Lagos State government, we are shocked that these kinds of disasters keep repeating themselves intermittently with the attendant high toll of casualties and the State administration has not bothered to put in place effective strategies to curb these occurrences.”

“The Lagos State government must be blamed for allowing the development of factories and residential buildings such as boarding schools to be located within short distances from such explosive facilities like the NNPC PIPELINES. The Lagos State administration should be blamed squarely for letting such accidents to be choreographed and orchestrated through the Lagos State government’s lack of urban development planning strategies and due to corruption by the Housing development departments of the state government.”

HURIWA condemned NEMA for rushing to tell the media that the explosion was not caused by a disruption of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation oil pipeline, while its duty was left unattended to.

The group carpeted the acting Coordinator, Lagos Territorial Office, NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, for making what it described as the senseless and irrational clarification in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos in which he said contrary to information earlier put out on social media, the explosion which occurred about 9 a.m. was unconnected to pipeline vandalism.

“Why should NEMA officials speak from the background of hearsay and rumours? Did they carry out forensic investigations to ascertain the real cause of those explosions which as we understand consumed many innocent school children? Is there no longer logic and scientific research methods in that GOVERNMENT funded office to such a ridiculous extent that the official could grant media interview to give his opinion on the cause of the disaster that is yet to be scientifically investigated? This professional radicalism in the administration of public offices in Nigeria must stop,” HURIWA said.

HURIWA recalled that the NEMA’S Lagos coordinator told the media as follows: “From the information given by officials of the Lagos State Fire Service, who are currently on the ground, the implosion is not connected to the pipeline but MIGHT have occurred in a factory located in the Abule Ado area. Emergency responders are on the ground while others are still on their way to the scene. The situation is under control and we hope to get more information soon to ascertain its cause”.