QUITE curiously, the police authorities have kept mute following the massive fire that razed 15 buildings, cars and other properties worth millions of naira on Boxing Day, in Lagos. Yet the incident, if only for its potential to recur, deserves very serious attention. It also underscores the havoc uncontrolled importation of hazardous materials and lack of physical planning could wreak. In a society basking in impunity and resort to self-help, it is not enough that a suspect has been arrested, as was reported the other day. The incident raises serious questions begging for urgent answers if the country is to be spared another unwarranted fire disaster.
Why, for instance, was the importer allowed to warehouse such explosive materials in a storey building that was not meant for that purpose? Were there no regulations guiding the storage of such products? If there were, why did the importer not comply? Why did the police not detect wrong storage of the hazardous products before hand? The answers to these posers could help to stop a recurrence.
For hazardous explosive products like fireworks to be warehoused in a densely populated market district shows the failure of physical planning and governmental control. It also portrays the impunity with which some business people conduct their activities. The incident is a lesson to the authorities to keep an eye on certain category of imports in the public interest.
It is not enough to grant import licence to businessmen without guidelines. The fireworks incident is an example that such licences are subject to abuse if left unmonitored. For security and public safety, the regulations governing the importation and storage of hazardous products should be vigorously enforced to avert unforeseen destructive consequences as witnessed in the recent incident.
Usually, dubious businessmen operate in disregard of the laws of the land because of lax attention, or in collusion with law enforcement agents. This should form part of the investigation into the Boxing Day incident in Lagos. The public deserves assurance of its safety from those charged with ensuring security of lives and property of the country.
There is also the need for the Lagos State Government to expand its physical planning efforts. A situation where markets, parks and residential facilities struggle for space is not only unhealthy for the environment, but could portend danger to the residents.
In the recent incident, for instance, the intermingling of warehouses, shops and restaurants with blocked narrow streets hindered the firefighters from gaining access to the inferno.
As a fast-growing metropolis, Lagos deserves more stringent development control measures to make it more functional. Its present unbridled mixed development creates disorder.