President, American Society for Safety Professionals (ASSP), Mr Nsikak Ekam, has called on Nigerians on the need to adhere strictly to safety ethics and management for safe living.
The association president made the call while speaking to Blueprint in Abuja Monday. He said the association aimed at sensitising Nigerians on the need to take safety measures seriously and adhere strictly to the ethics and management for a safer country.
“The campaign we are carrying out currently is to reverse the trend of occurrences in Nigeria on repeated building collapse, people drowning and washed away in flood.
“There is repeated tanker explosion and fire outbreak, unnecessary traffic grid, even when we are trying to have road construction for new openings to make business grow.
”Sometimes, there is outright vandalisation and people tempering with transformers. So it is disheartening and touching to the association as Nigerians can’t learn from incidents to help the country grow,” he said.
He stated that the campaign is all about making Nigeria a safer place for all.
He however, called on the federal government to set up adequate policies that would address safety challenges among Nigerians.
He tasked parents on domestic safety for the prevention of domestic accidents adding that adequate precautions would help prevent risky occurrences’.
”Home safety starts from yourself, by making it a point of duty that if you are home alone, somebody outside should have a spear key that can gain access to the house.
”These days, we are having cases of stroke, cases of people collapsing without anyone knowing and with the kind of burglary proofs and doors it becomes impossible to get help.
”So if you have a next of kin or somebody you know, help can reach you easily, even when you are struggling on the ground, you could put a valid call outside and help will reach you,” he said.
He advised that safety management be integrated into the educational sector so that students will read and know the benefit of safety tips.
He called on school proprietors to ensure that the location of schools be safe for students, adding that there should be perimeter fence at the school.
Besides, he stressed the need for collaboration among law enforcement agencies, to secure the lives of children in schools.
He said safety is a collective responsibility and therefore all hands should be on deck to ensure safety of lives and properties in the country.
”Safety is our collective responsibility, the government have their role to play, but I think the individual has more to play because safety starts from me and you.
”The government will do the regulation, they will create the laws, enforcement and play a reactive part of it, but it is the individual at the end of the day.
”Take a typical example, you see a road safety officer on the road and you start running, what is pursuing you?” he asked.
