The MANAGEMENT of Vigilance and its sister magazine SCORPION is not surprised in any least way by this now well-worn out monkey tricks of setting public buildings and properties ablaze to cover up grandiose corruption, dating back to the First Republic through the Shehu Aliu Usman's Second Republic when the Nigerian External Telecommunications' 32-story building in a similar circumstance was gutted down by fire with the then President proceeding to India to celebrate that nation's independence anniversary, despite the burning bodies, fractured bones, charred remains of the dead and hundreds of Nigerians trapped in the inferno.
Whilst Jonathan now remains the whipping boy of Nigerians, especially ethnic jingoists political opponents and religious bigots due to his unparalleled ineptitude, zero-performance and stupendous corruption, we would like to remind Nigerians to just look back, face the world and tell all conscientious humanity which one of their leaders, dead or alive can cast the first stone - Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; the Nwafor Orizu interm; Johnson Umunakwe Ironsi; Yakubu Gowon; Murtala Muhammed; the pharisaical Olusegun Obansajo who in his usual hypocrisy that stinks to high heaven has just sent his so-called five-point blueprint to the Parallelist President-elect; Shehu Usman Aliu Shagari; Muhammadu Buhari who is making a come back and already hinting unsuspecting and gullible Nigerians of not having the solutions Nigerians are looking up to him for, for their multifaceted problems; Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida; the Ernest Shonekan Interim rubbish; Sani Abacha; Abdulsalami Abubakar; Obasanjo again; Umaru Musa Yar'Adua and Goodluck Ebele Jonanathan who has just been pushed out by the nation's ruining class, yes, RUINING CLASS through the well-orchestrated ELECTIMIDATIONS using the most vicious propaganda, sanguinary threats and Machiavellianism of the crudest type?
However, what seems to surprise us is the fact that these official arsonists have not had any creative approach to this chicanery since all those years. We did earlier warn ahead of time because of official mishiefs such as this when in our many agenda-setting special reports and analyses recently on the Nigerian polity, we asked that political officials should be requested to surrender their passports and other travel documents to the nearest police stations as we knew that the magnitude of rot within the Nigerian system, starting from the Presidency to every smallest corner of governments, not ONLY of the PDP, but of all the parties including the Association of Political Canaries (APC) - the ever hollering mobs whose now trademark gargatuan indecision merits entry in the Guiness Book of Records - it takes the APC centuries before they can arrive at a decision - even in the minutest things like choosing their presidential/vice presidential flagbearers, other political appointments including whether or not they should adopt a zoning formular in elective posts and public appointments!
Many, many years ago, we did warn in our numerous editorials on Nigeria's public buildings, public spaces, the private sectors and private homes on the need to install fire hydrants, both at homes and in public places, and create evacuation points/centres at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, States secretariats, public buildings, public spaces - the cenemas, theatres, schools, colleges, the universities, hostels in addition to demarcating fire exit points in all of these places and many more, as well as, having a regular fire drills, simulated fire drills; regular fire testings, which would see public servants/staff, both in the public and private sectors ready for eventualities such as the one in hand, with many, many more coming now and in the coming weeks, but these advice of ours from the look of things and from the idiotic excuses which Mr Collins Elechi, the Federal Fire Service parrot has just tete-tata-bla-bal-phrrrrred like a suckling when recounting to the press the obstacles the the idiots called the nation's emergency officers had just faced in trying to curtail the 'dogs and baoons' fire.
Elechi drooled as one suffering from epilepsy, in this case 'official epilepsy': “There is need for a functional hydrant in this building. We did not see one; we are not indicting the occupants of this building. That is one of the challenges we met here in the process.’’
How stupid! They should actually be indicting the occupants of the building for such criminal negligence which borders on lives and saftey of public property such as the Education building. In a sane environment, the education ministers - subsatntive and his MoS, all permanent secretaries and directors will lose their jobs. In fact, they will not wait for anyone to ask them to stand down. So also, the the grossly and professionally deficient Comptrollers of the Federal Fire Service, all key federal fire officers including their loquacious parrot Elechi together with the boss of the National Emergency Agency.
But in Nigeria, anthing goes, for aren't those who caused the deaths of 15 Nigerians through their spurious jobs interview at Abuja stadium still partaking of their so-called national cake?
This good-for-nothing fire parrot/canary does not know it is a criminal offence for any government department not to have all these in place in readiness for likely eventualities, especially in a supra-eruptive-volcanic polity like Nigeria; this dunce does not know it is a statutory requirement for all public spheres including the private sector and individual homes to have all of these including insuring them and that it is also the statutory requirement of the FFS to ensure compliance; this knave does not know it is the reponsibility of his dead agency to as a matter of fact, make it a daily routine to always carry out daily checks on all the buildings in public places, including the Federal Secretariat - and if this is the case, which it is so exactly in advanced polities and economies, who did the health check on the burnt building on Thursday; what did the Fire Officer/Security Officer who carried out the building/property health check including perimeter walks record for that day; who counter-signed it; how many times did the emergency officers - FFS, NEMA and security officials carry out the checks on Thursday; who is the supervisor in charge of that building; who are the regular FFS/NEMA officers stationed permanently in each of the building; what are their names and how many of them - and if NONE WHATSOEVER, WHY NOT?
Are they stationed at the secretriat and the dome of shame fire vehicles to repond to eventualities, if not, WHY NOT?
We did in our many editorials many years ago ask that in each ministry/department of government some staff should be trained as in-house/resident volunteer wardens or fire marshalls, why up till now has that not been done? The purpose of having office wardens is to enable them help out before the arrival of emergency officers in times of emergencies of the minutest type.
In those editorials we also asked for the redesigning of public and private buildings in Nigeria to conform to international best practices by having special lifts for the disabled persons in addition to having disabled parking spaces in public and private parks and issuing blue-badges to such persons/visitors - have these been done? IF NOT, WHY NOT?
What exactly was the response time? How long did it take the emergency officers to get there and put off the 'monkey fire'? Why did Nigerian journalists not tell the world about the response time of the emergency officials?
Were the idiots who pass for the bosses of the Federal Fire Service and National Emergency Management Agency well abreast of the volatile nature of the Nigerian polity, especially in times like these; were these good-for-nothing Federal Officers on top of their jobs; were they foresighted, were they proactive; were they analytical; were they thoughtful/insightful; were they both competent and have not climbed to the present rungs of their career ladders through hereditary privileges, they would have had officers permanently stationed in all strategic and sensitive national offices - the DOME OF VULTURES inclusive.
Generally, what is the level of participation of the private sector including registered individual fire personnel, States and Local Governments within the national emergency sector - the private sector inclusive? Where this exists already, what checks/monitoring mechanisms are in place to prevent emergency bosses to register their OWN private companies using fronts/cronies to get all the contracts - what checks are in place to prevent predictable unhealthy rivalries that ensue in such an arrangement afterwards?
CROWD CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT
We could glean from the stupid statement of one Labaran Haman that the emergency officers found it difficult to control the crowd, which means, no civil servant in that country has been taught/has received training as to what to do in the events of fire and other emergencies such as terror attacks at the secretariat which will come in just a matter of moment?(!). Again, in all of our editorials on public safety and emergencies, we had harped on all of these, so why was it difficult for the emergency officers to control the crowd?
Are they yet in Nigeria professional/licenced crowd controllers and managers in all public places and during big/mega events - rallies, churches' night vigils which take delight in blocking public highways and disrupting economic activities without anyone in that country suing the organisers of such 'holy' nonsense?
Are there no fire exits at all at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja; are there no evacuation points; are they first aiders in every unit/department of governments yet; if someone gets hurt during official hours, are there well equipped First Aid boxes installed in all strategic places at the Federal Secretariat, other public places and elsewhere?
⦁ Has every worker in Nigeria - civil servants inclusive been insured?
⦁ Any compensation for workplace injur(y)ies or not?
⦁ Are there workplace injuries lawyers or not?
⦁ Are all vehicles in Nigeria insured with their owners/drivers having driving licences?
⦁ Are there fire hydrants installed on all vehicles in Nigeria?
⦁ Do all private homes have fire hydrants/extingushers as a matter of law?
⦁ Are all public places, properties, both public and private insured?
⦁ If the anwers are NO, then what are that country's legislators doing - just sharing money, left/right and receiving same in GHANA MUST GO?
In the past, such shame had been blamed ridiculousy on wind, harmattan, electrical faults, engineering works, overloading, fake wires/cables, electrical sparks at night due to power fluctuations, fire from cigarette stubs, burning bush; match boxes exploding; lighter exploding; a staff was boiling the kettle, technical faults, etc, etc, etc. But whatever be the cause this time round, we shall yet not be surprised!
Let the FFS and NEMA bosses be reminded that they are being watched from over here. They must buckle up or bow out in shame immediately!
Concluding, we echo: THE FIRE NEXT TIME, BUT WHERE NEXT?
PRESIDENCY?