Disasters claim 78 lives in SW Nigeria
Xinhua, April 12, 2016 Adjust font size:
The Nigerian government on Monday said it recorded 78 deaths from various disasters in the first quarter of the year in the South West region.
The deaths came from fire incidents, boat mishaps, building collapse and sundry incidents, Ibrahim Farinloye, a regional spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said in Lagos, the nation's economic hub.
He appealed to Nigerians to imbibe the culture of disaster risk reduction and personal safety as their means of survival.
He said the appeal was imperative in view of human and material losses from disasters, mostly human-induced in the first three months of this year.
The NEMA official urged the government to enhance the capabilities and efficiency of the various state institutions with adequate budgetary allocations devoid of ad-hoc staffing of most of the State Emergency Management Agencies in the country.
He said these would further strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of the agencies to handle disasters.
Farinloye advised Nigerians to look out for faulty electrical wiring as this could be a major cause of fire outbreak.
He said using thin cables for house wiring, in order to save cost, where thicker cables ought to be used could cause heating, which could ignite the insulation and spark off a fire disaster. Endit