Nigerian institution of safety engineers, NiSafetyE, has reiterated its commitment to embark on extensive lobbying of the National Assembly and the 36 state Houses of Assembly to enact a law that would empower the body to checkmate incessant building collapse and oil tanker accidents in the country.
The Institution of safety engineers, a subsidiary of Nigerian society of engineers, NSE, decried the alarming rate of increase cases of fuel tanker accidents across the country and frequent building collapses which has taken so many lives and destroyed millions pf property over the years.
The institution attributed this unfortunate incident to lack of strong legislation.
Speaking during the investiture of the 5th national chairman of NiSafetyE in Port Harcourt, at the weekend, the new chairman of the body, Dr. Andrew Monday Abanum, said he would intensify awareness campaigns to educate tanker drivers on the need to consider safety as a top priority in their chosen job of conveying petroleum products from one point to another.
Dr. Abanum regretted that whenever a tanker laden with petroleum products get involved in an accident and the product spills over, “the devastation is usually too massive as people at the scene of the accident get burnt and property worth millions of naira are destroyed in the process”.
According to him, “our campaign will be extended to ensuring that the tankers on the road are of quality standard, the drivers must be certified to be of good mental health while the government must ensure that the roads are in good shape devoid of potholes”.
The 5th NiSafetyE national chairman promised that every petroleum tanker must be subjected to the safety test of the standard organization of Nigeria, SON, before it is allowed to ply the road so that even if there is an accident, the product will not spill over.
On frequent building collapse in the country, Dr. Abanum said the incident was of a great concern to the Nigerian institution of safety engineers, advising that some of the ways of ending building collapse of is to ensure that engineering jobs are given to certified engineers to handle.
“Substandard building materials in the market space must be examined. Quality materials must be taken into consideration. The structural design and other necessities must be thoroughly taken into account before any building project is carried out.
“This is why in my two years as the national chairman of NiSafetyE, we will lobby the National Assembly and the 36 states Assembly to make a legislation that will empower our organization and other safety bodies to check the excesses of some disgruntled elements who flout safety orders and instructions”, he said.
Also speaking, the 4th chairman of the Nigerian lnstitution of Safety Engineers(NISafetyE) , Rivers State chapter Engr Esuuk Elijah thanked the national chairman of the body Engr.Andrew Monday Abanum for his leadership and support.
Engr Elijah who pledged to champion higher safety standards in the chapter, pledged that he would grow and ensure that safety engineers have a strong voice in shaping the safety culture in Rivers State and in the country at large.
“ln a state like Rivers, at the heart of Nigeria’s energy sector, the cost of neglecting safety is simply too high”, he said.
