The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), on Thursday in Akure, Ondo State, organised a stakeholders’ meeting on fire sensitisation and awareness campaign for farmers and market women.
The NEMA Head of Operations, Ekiti office, Mr Olusegun Afolayan, said at the programme that the agency was aware that dry season had come with some possible disasters, in which fire was prevalent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Ekiti operations office of NEMA controls Ekiti, Osun and Ondo states.
According to Afolayan, NEMA is the agency saddled with responsibilities of monitoring the state of preparedness of all stakeholders.
“It is our duty to put up the mechanism of preparedness against fire and other disasters,’’ he said.
Afolayan urged market women to procure fire extinguishers and put them in their various shops and warehouses to be able to put out any possible fire before it wreaked havoc.
“Let me at this juncture state that I am delighted that the representatives of Market Women Association and Ondo State Farmers Association are in attendance at this meeting.
“The two associations are crucial to this meeting, as most cases recorded are market fire and bush/farm burning.
“It is expected that the associations will help us sensitise their members on the dangers of fire and that all electrical appliances must be switched off before leaving the market.
“Keeping of fuel and combustible materials in the shops and warehouses should also be discouraged in order to avert fire disaster.
“If all the preventive mechanisms are followed assiduously, the incidence of fire disaster usually associated with dry season will be averted or drastically reduced,’’ he said.
Also, the Secretary, Ondo State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr Femi Obideyi, said that the programme came at a crucial time when the state had recently experienced fire incidents in some markets.
Obideyi said it would go a long way in guiding participants on ways of avoiding preventable fire incidents and disseminating the information to other members of the community.
NAN reports that Mr Akinwale Akinuoye, of the Federal Fire Service, educated the participants on fire prevention and evacuation measures.
NAN also reports that participants were drawn from men of federal and state fire services, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Red Cross Society, amongst others. (NAN)