Expert decries government lackadaisical attitude toward safety matters
The President of the Institute of Safety Professionals Of Nigeria (IPSON), Mr Timothy Iwuagwu, on Saturday decried government officials lackadaisical attitude towards matters relating to safety precautions.
Iwuagwu expressed his disappointment during the celebration of IPSON 10th Anniversary Conference with the theme: Legal Framework, Safety Compliance and Professionalism: A Panacea for Industrial Development and Economic Growth.
He said that in June, some Nigerians got buried in a mine in Niger State to which IPSON went there to access the situation and spoke to Nigerians on the unfortunate development.
“I am sure the government listened because we spoke through the television and we pointed out a whole lot of unsafe practices in the community.
“Up till date, we have not been called by any agency of the government to come and throw more light and the things we said about the incident on television,” he said.
The president said that since he took over in October 2023, the institution had opened functional offices in Enugu, Kano, Maiduguri, Yola, Lokoja, Minna, among other states.
“The institute has never spread like this in a short interval of time.
“The progress was not achieved by accident but through a well thought out plan and deliberate effort to actualise it,” he said.
Iwuagwu said that the institute over the years engaged in training, compliance awareness activities, evaluation of people among other activities.
“If people are not trained, we will have so much incidents and accidents, that is why they say, knowledge is power,” he said.
The president said a major problem to the development of the economy was the dichotomy between the academia and industrial sector.
He said that school curriculum did not reflect the needs of the industrial labour market.
“So, we need the university’s curriculum to be adjusted to reflect the same realities of industrial labour market otherwise the there will be misfit and the gap will keep widening,” Iwuagwu said.
Also, the first Register of ISPON, Prof. Innocent Okunamiri urged all practicing safety officers in various companies to register with institution to be well recognised in the sector.
“No matter how many qualifications you have gathered, if your name is not in the register of the institute, you won’t be considered a professional.
“So those safety officers in various companies in this country whose names are not in the register, are only safety practitioners and not professionals,” Okunamiri said.
