2nd January, 2013
Lawmakers at Nigeria’s Lagos State House of Assembly have started the review of the law against firecrackers in the state, following the fire that razed some buildings at the Jankara area of the state on Boxing Day.
The House has directed its legal department to find out if there are laws regulating the use and importation of fireworks into the country, with a view to curb the indiscriminate use and storage of the object.
This decision was reached on Thursday after member representing Lagos Island Constituency 2, Hakeem Masha, explained how firecrackers resulted in a fire incident that killed one person, destroyed buildings and other properties in the area under Matter of Urgent Public Importance.
Masha, noted that though firecrackers had resulted in fire outbreaks in the area in the past, the Boxing Day incident was most disastrous and tragic.
The lawmaker appealed that the possibilities of laws to regulate the importation, storage and use of firecrackers should be considered.
“We use fireworks indiscriminately in this part of the world and the way we store them is also not proper. I want to suggest that henceforth, those that will be involved in the importation of fireworks to acquire licence to that effect, so that when an incident like this happens, we will know who to hold responsible,” he said.
A member representing Lagos Island Constituency 1 at the House, Wahab Alawiye-King, while noting that fireworks were used during the opening and closing ceremony of the just concluded sports festival held in Lagos, maintained that the way fireworks were being used by residents in the state was out of control.
Alawiye-King appealed to the House to establish a law that would curb the indiscriminate use and storage of fireworks, stressing that it had become difficult to differentiate between the sound of a firecrackers and a bomb.
This, according to him, is very a threat to maintaining peace and security in the state.
Also, the representative of Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency 2, Ipoola Omisore, supported the establishment of a law to prohibit people from building shops and warehouses in residential areas.
Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji, while warning residents of the state against storing mini explosives at home, advised those into the business to stay away from residential areas.
“We also urge the legal department of this House to help us look at the law that has to do with fireworks, so that we can look at working on the indiscriminate use of the ,” he added.