By: Smart Olawale
“Make people pay for their mistakes. We get away with so many mistakes in Nigeria and we continue to do it all over again because…
The immediate past Director-General of the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), Prince Hon. Hakeem Dickson has suggested to the Government and the judiciary to mete out serious punishment on safety law defaulters.
He said this in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos.
According to the former Chairman of Lagos State’s Surulere Local Government, people would caution themselves against breaking safety laws if they are heavily penalized for offences that affect public safety.
He tipped the Government to learn lessons from their counterpart, United States of America, where citizens are heavily fined for offences like driving without using the seat belt.
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“Make people pay for their mistakes. We get away with so many mistakes in Nigeria and we continue to do it all over again because nothing happens. But you cannot get away with it in America because something will happen,” he said.
In the same vein, Honorable Dickson noted that the quest to ensure widespread awareness and consciousness of Public Safety will be successful if the Government and all companies collaborate together towards the course.
He described some of Nigeria’s laws as outdated, urging lawmakers to amend them in line with contemporary issues.
In his words, he said “there’s a lot of things that are wrong with our Constitution and some of our laws have expired. We might have them but we need to upgrade to what is happening all over the world.”
He concluded by advising government and companies to create a trusted system where citizens and workers can report misbehaviours in confidence.