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The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, has reiterated the importance of strict adherence to safety guidelines ahead of the February 14 St Valentine’s Day celebrations.
This was contained in a release on Wednesday issued by Prince Oyelade and made available to newsmen in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The Commissioner stressed the necessity of involving security agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Civil Defence Corps, Amotekun, and Operation Burst, in the planning process.
Oyelade stated that their involvement is crucial to ensuring comprehensive logistics and security measures are in place for safe gatherings.
He also noted the importance of maintaining health protocols, such as good hygiene, proper ventilation, and staying updated on health advisories.
“That event planners must also reach a consensus with both security and medical personnel regarding venue selection.
“The Oyo State Ministry of Health and the Hospitals Management Board, along with private hospitals when necessary, must be engaged to guarantee sufficient medical support during events,” Oyelade said.
Oyelade warned that failure to comply with these directives will result in severe consequences under the law.
It will be recalled that Oyo State government, on December 18, 2024, lost 35 children in a Christmas funfair which resulted in a stampede.
The organisers of the event, through repeated jingles promised participants attractive prizes like scholarship and other special gifts. The irresistible gifts attracted an controllable crowd from far and near to Islamic High School, Basorun Ibadan, the venue. Among the crowd were residents in Lagos and Osun states.
Although the organisers had invested much airtime in the jingles, the stampede which led several deaths, showed that little consideration was given to the security of crowd that comprised mainly fragile teenagers.
The fatal outcome of the funfair revealed non-inclusion of security operatives and health professionals at the planning stage of the event, and particularly on the ill-fated day.
The incident palpably threw Oyo State into palpable grief, especially the Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, who had to cancel lined up activities for his birthday.
Certainly, many of the parents of the Ibadan stampede victims, too, are still grieving over the unforeseen calamity which befell their children.
Given the unpleasant lessons learnt from the 2024 avoidable Ibadan stampede, the Oyo State government in its wisdom, therefore came up with critical safety measures and crowd control strategies to forestall a similar calamity in the state.
