The Rivers billboard tragedy

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RECENTLY, tragedy struck as five people were reportedly electrocuted while trying to mount a billboard with a metal frame on the Obiri-Ikwerre road in Rumuosi community of Rivers State. While five people died instantly, four others who sustained life-threatening injuries were taken to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). According to reports, the victims were mounting the billboard with a metal frame, which conducted electric current when it touched the high-tension cable. The electric current gripped and shocked the five casualties to death. According to the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, the incident was pathetic and investigations had commenced into it. On their part, officials of the Rivers State Signage and Advertising Agency sealed off the premises of the church that owns the billboard and which reportedly hired the offending company, with officials indicating that the action was taken pending further investigations.

Managing Director of the agency, Tony Okeha, said those mounting the billboard did it without approval. His words: “They do not have any approval from the agency. We have spent time warning people against illegal activities such as this one. We regret what has happened, but this will serve as a deterrent, showing that people should learn to do things the proper way. The agency regulates what billboard structures should be erected, and where and whether they will cause visual blindness or accidents and all such consequences. We go out every day to remove illegal structures because of where they are erected and because of the low standards. This costs the agency a whole lot because we have to hire equipment to carry out this enforcement. If you must practise advertising, you must do it the right way. Practitioners must be certified, and they must concern themselves with the rules and regulations.”

It is indeed tragic that an otherwise uncomplicated action as erecting a billboard led to the electrocution of five persons while four others suffered life-threatening burns and had to be attended to at a teaching hospital. It exposed the wanton carelessness about human lives in the country. We commiserate with the families of the victims, including those in hospital, whom we wish the quickest of recoveries. Yet, the point has to be made that this tragedy was largely avoidable if only those involved had taken necessary precautions and deployed appropriate equipment and wear for the installation. Elsewhere in the world, high tension cables are not left dangling in the air; they are buried underground, with people out of harm’s way. But since the Nigerian reality is different, five men died in very horrendous circumstances. It is painful to experience the loss of lives in accidents that could have been avoided. Part of the responsibilities of state governments in is to ensure that such activities are guided by stringent rules and regulations.

The fact cannot be ignored, going by the statement of the Rivers State Signage and Advertising Agency, that those involved in this tragic incident, who were said to be private businessmen hired by a church, had no approval to erect the billboard. That is an infraction that must ordinarily be punished very severely. We believe that the government must always ensure that those engaging in such activities as setting up billboards are made to follow stringent provisions that would minimise exposure to danger. Companies or individuals violating the law in this regard should not be allowed to continue their illegal activities. They pose grave danger to members of the public. In all probability, those involved in this tragic episode had been carrying out such illegal activities before the recent tragic incident, exploiting the laxity in the regulatory environment. The situation has to change. The government has a responsibility to put in place appropriate rules and regulations to forestall a recurrence of this kind of avoidable tragedy.

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