By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Newly appointed Director General of the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), Mr Hakeem Dickson, has pledged to ensure that every building in the state has an insurance cover to mitigate the devastating effects of disasters.
Mr Dickson gave this assurance while addressing members of the Lagos State House of Assembly during plenary as part of the exercise to approve his nomination as the head of the commission.
The House had in the recent past directed Mr Dickson to vacate his headship of the commission for failure to get clearance from the House.
The DG, who tendered unreserved apology for assuming the office before House’s confirmation, stated that, “it was an oversight that occurred, that would never repeat itself in any other assignment in the future.”
Mr Dickson, who is a former councillor from Surulere Local Government Area of the state, promised to execute to the letter the provisions in the law that established the Safety Commission.
According to him, “I’m such a person that ruminates a lot on any assigned role. Although, I’m not a mayor but DG – I’m ready to implement the provisions of the law that set up LSSC.
“Each house in the state must have to comply with the provision of having 5-6 Kg fire extinguisher to combat fire when it occurs in their houses. Also, every building must comply with the provision on insurance to mitigate effects of disasters,” Mr Dickson said.
The Speaker, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, who presided over the plenary told the DG to address the problems posed by articulated vehicles in the state.
Mr Obasa noted that there were situations where the articulated vehicles would fall off on the highways, saying in such instances death occurs and others get varying degrees of injuries.
The Speaker added that the tasks before the new DG were enormous, which according to him must be thoroughly addressed to achieve the desired results.