6th March, 2024
The Lagos State Safety Commission and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) on Tuesday resolved to enforce indoor smoking at Night clubs, bars and lounges across the state.
The Director-General, Lagos Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola and General Manager, LASEPA, Dr. Tunde Ajayi, made the pronouncement on Tuesday at a safety workshop organised for the hospitality sector in the State.
The event with the theme: “Establishing a safety culture in the night life sector in Lagos State,” was organized and packaged by the Lagos State Safety Commission.
The event was held at Oriental Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Speaking at the event, Mojola said it was high time Nigerians complied with rules and regulation, especially with international standards as it related to smoking.
He maintained that in every hotels, there should be a specialized place designed for smoking cigarettes, but not at a place where everyone is relaxing and enjoying themselves.
Mojola stated that though service quality in the hospitality sector in Nigeria could be inconsistent, with issues such as poor customer service, lack of trained personnel and substandard facilities, but with proper monitoring by relevant agencies and adequate safety precautions, the challenges would reduce drastically.
He emphasised that henceforth, indoor smoking at Night clubs would be enforced, saying this would ensure that all “of us have designated places for smoking in our facilities, or else the full wrath of law would be on us.”
“There is no doubt, Lagos State will enforce indoor smoking at Night clubs, bars and lounges because it is high time we do our business as the law stipulates but not as we want it to be done, especially in Lagos State where safety and health of all the citizens is of utmost concern of the Sanwo-Olu-led administration,” Mojola said.
The General Manager, LASEPA, Ajayi, corroborated what Mojola had earlier said, while also supporting the enforcement of indoor smoking at Night clubs, bars and lounges in the state.
Ajayi maintained that as it is in other climes, where sharp practices happened, some elements in the hospitality business do not comply to Safety rules, and that this situation was being handled by relevant agencies with stiff sanctions set to be imposed.
Mr Ehi Iden, Occupational Health and Safety Manager; Mr Yomi Ayoola, Hospitality Consultant- Expose Brands and Alhaji Maijama’a Abdullaji, from National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), who was represented by Mr Bashir Oladosu, were of the opinion that if service quality would be improved, there should be investment in training and capacity building for hospitality industry personnel coupled with constant monitoring to ensure compliance with global best practices.
It was suggested that Night clubs should have visible exit signage, indicating ingress and exit doors where people would be versatile with coming in and out of the building and not that “when there is emergency, definitely, stampede would occur.”