Lagos Reads Riot Act To Event Planners Violating Safety Rules
The Lagos State government has read riot act to event planners in the state that violates safety rules and regulation, saying the government will henceforth prosecute erring event planners.
The state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu gave this warning on Wednesday at a forum with event planners and managers organised in conjunction with AQAATA Safety Company and other critical stakeholders in Lagos.
The Governor who spoke through his Special Adviser on Special Duties, Mr. Mobolaji Ogunlende urged stakeholders in the event industry to be safety conscious.
He said that in the present new normal, safety is now at the forefront as COVID 19 has opened the knowledge and understanding about the need to ensure health and safety checks and operational standards of the event industry.
"Government is not lenient in the process of prosecuting offenders of the event industry because we need to understand that change is something that people are not ready to imbibe. And with a forum like this, we are assured that we will do more to ensure that those who defiled the law will be corrected, taking the necessary steps in terms of fine, possibly imprisonment as the case may be, depending on the nature of the offence but you must be assured that the Lagos State government is doing a lot to ensure that safety becomes a lifestyle." he said
He added that the government has committed funds to abate flooding in the state and there are IDP camps set up for internally displaced people in the State, among other interventions.
In his address, the director general, Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola explained that the conversation on safety is very interesting as it would allow stakeholders to fall on the path of doing the right thing particularly in this new normal era.
Mojola said that the idea is to see how the commission can regulate the system to see and make the event planners place value on the lives of Lagosians and make them safer.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has met with a high-powered delegation from France for strategic discussion on bilateral cooperation, focusing discussion on robust partnership between the state and French government in the areas of security, transportation and infrastructure.
The visitors, led by Senator Bernard Fournier, are members of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Committee in the French Senate. They are in Nigeria on a three-day working visit.
The parliamentarians’ visit to the Governor came weeks after the representatives of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) visited Lagos to strengthen the existing bilateral ties between the two sides.
There are over 100 French companies based in Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu told the French parliamentarians that bilateral agreements with the state government had recorded progress, disclosing that Lagos was open to more investment in provision of infrastructure in the transportation sector and gaming industry.
He said: “We are happy with the kind of relationship we currently have with the French business community. We have been making a giant leap forward in our relationship and we are ready to do a lot more, especially in the transportation sector where we currently have partnership with French firms. There is also an existing French loan which we have changed the scope of the transaction but we are on track on the deliverables tied to the funding.
“Lagos also recently sealed a MoU with the French government on e-sport. I am delighted to share progress in this regard; we have some representatives of the State Government currently in Paris to further open more opportunities in the gaming sector as outlined in the agreement. The new Lekki Deep Seaport, which we will be commissioning next month, will be managed by a French company called CMA CGM Group.”
Sanwo-Olu assured the visiting parliamentarians that Nigeria remained safe for businesses and investments despite the security concerns in some parts of the country.
He said Defence collaboration between France and the Nigerian Navy had improved security on the waterways, while also raising the capability of Nigeria security personnel to protect valuable maritime assets.
The contemporary security challenges bedeviling the nation, the Governor said, were not insurmountable, noting that the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration had boosted the morale of the military with the provision of modern weapons and training to tackle the situation.
“Nigeria is a big, complex country with challenges like every other country on the planet. But, we will surely come out of the current tensions in due course,” the governor said.