Substandard electrical appliances responsible for the increase in fire outbreak in Lagos-LASG

The Lagos State Government has identified the
influx of substandard electrical appliances into
Lagos as one of the major causes of the
increased rate of fire incident in the state.
The Government in a statement signed by the
Commissioner for Special Duties and
Intergovernmental Relations, Oluseye Oladejo,
said preliminary investigation by his office and
the State Fire Service Director, Rasak Fadipe,
revealed that installation of substandard electrical
appliances in most cases trigger fire outbreaks,
adding that all hands to be on deck to forestall
future occurrences. The government called on the
Standard Organization of Nigeria SON to rise of
to its responsibility to check the standard of
materials coming into the state.
The commissioner urged residents to be more
vigilant and look out for only quality electrical
appliances in the market as well as ensure that
they patronise only qualified electricians to install
same in their homes. He also urged Electricity
Generation (Gencos) and Distribution Companies
(Discos) to look into the power voltage made
available to customers to prevent power surge
resulting from high voltage which could cause fire
outbreak. He said the state government will
continue do everything within the confines of the
law to ensure that lives and property of its
citizenry are secured.
“The government is not in any way comfortable in
the number of fire incidents that have occurred in
the last few months and therefore government will
not look the other way while this increase in fire
disasters continues. People should be more
proactive to make sure that they switch off
electrical appliances when they are going to bed
and when they are also leaving their offices. This
will go a long way in reducing, if not totally
eliminating the incidence of fire outbreaks in the
state which has unfortunately led to the loss of
lives and property in recent time. Fire outbreaks in
our homes, markets and offices are totally
unacceptable and we must do something about
it,” he said.