Group accused NEMA, LASEMA, as being incompetent

Posted by the Editor

The National Executive Co-ordinator of Life Savers Foundation,  a Non-Governmental Organisation,  Mrs. Fola Shoetan, has described as unsatisfactory the approach of the officials of the National Emergency Management Agency  and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency to the September 12 Synagogue Church Of All Nation’s building collapse. Shoetan called for better training and re-orientation for the officials of NEMA and LASEMA, who she accused of closing daily at 10.30pm and resuming at 9am “even when it was obvious that there were several dying victims still  trapped under the rubbles.”
She described as insincere the claim by the General Manager of LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, that officials of the  agency were on ground 24 hours spearheading the rescue operations.
Shoetan also said that the government statutory responders to emergencies came ill-equipped for the task and were completely clueless about how to approach the operation based on its magnitude.
The school teacher testified on Tuesday at the coroner’s inquest into the death of about 116 persons killed in the Synagogue’s six-storey guest house.
She said, “I don’t know when NEMA officials left the scene on the first day,  but LASEMA officials left at 10:30pm on the second day. As of the time LASEMA officials left on the second day, persons were still trapped under the rubbles.”
Soetan added, “The LASEMA General Manager, Dr. Femi Osanyintola, though he was very hard working and was always  around at the collapsed site, but what he did most of the time that he was around was to hold meetings with his team from the state.”
According to the witness, soon after Oke-Osanyintolu left, his men too would leave.
She said, “Each time they were closing at 10.30pm, I will ask them: Are  you going?
“I did not sleep for five days, I only took my bath on the third day because there was no one that had human feelings that would be able to leave the site when he was  hearing people crying for help from under the rubbles.”
Urging the government to provide training and equipment for the emergency management agencies, Shoetan stated that they were not better equipped than her own NGO, adding that nothing could be done until the heavy duty equipment borrowed from a Chinese construction company arrived.
She also noted that the government agencies brought only one ambulance, adding that SCOAN provided at least five ambulances.
Earlier in his own testimony, the Chief Security Officer of SCOAN, Mr.  Sunday Okogie, had opposed the claim by both the NEMA and LASEMA that their officials were denied prompt access to the collapsed site and obstructed by a crowd in the conduct of their duty.
The CSO, who submitted to the court unedited footage from the CCTV, which captured the  incident from September 12 to 16, argued that the recordings contradicted the  claims by NEMA and LASEMA.
Okogie pointed out that both agencies arrived at the church about an hour after the building had collapsed and gained access to the scene in less than a minute.
Presenting the footage to the coroner, he said,  “My Lord, on the first day of the incident, as you can see, nobody prevented them from entering into the compound. But as you can see from the video, LASEMA came with only one bus and no heavy duty equipment as they claimed before this court.
“The same thing with NEMA. They came ill-equipped for the job of digging out those who were trapped under the rubbles.”
Okogie further told the court that officials of NEMA and LASEMA left the collapsed site at about 5:45pm, with the full knowledge that several persons were still trapped underneath the rubbles.
The CSO said, “For the first three days, that was how they were operating. They will resume at about 8am and leave in the evening like they were on duty in the office.”