The automatic gas shutter prevents gas explosions from the kitchen
For millions of Nigerians, the fear of fire outbreaks is the beginning of wisdom. But very soon, those who use gas cookers in their homes, drive cars, use wooden electricity metre boards and traders in big markets in Lagos State will have no fear of an inferno again.
Lastfire Response, a company that manufactures and installs latest fire safety equipment, recently announced that it had invented four safety products to prevent fire outbreaks in the country.
The products are automatic gas shutter for preventing gas explosion, fireboss automatic inbuilt car extinguisher, fireproof electricity meter board and backpack fire extinguisher with high speed bike that can climb steps and fight fire at 18 to 20 metres range from the scene of an inferno.
The company is also at the verge of completing work on a new product, dynamite detector for industrial and community use. This product is expected to alert security agents to a bomb-laden vehicle or suicide bomber that is some metres away.
The automatic gas shutter prevents gas explosions from the kitchen
Speaking with the reporter, Managing Director of the company, Mr. Samuel Owolabi, who won the Rolex Award for Enterprises on inbuilt car fire extinguisher in Switzerland in 2004, said his company decided to invent the products for the country to achieve the United Nations Vision 2020 Fire-Outbreak Eradication.
The Lastfire Response boss, who was declared the Inventor of the Year in 1991 by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), stated that all the products have been patented by the Federal Government to prevent them from being stolen.
While saying that the fireboss automatic car extinguisher has been endorsed by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Owolabi maintained that the fireproof electricity metre board had been tested and attested to by the Lagos State government and standardised by the Ghanaian Government in Accra.
He added that his company was the first private fire safety company to operate with power bike and water-mist sophisticated equipment for fire fighting in Nigeria. The objective, according to him, is to serve as an advance party to road accident victims, state or federal fire service. “It is to educate people at the scene of fire on what to do before the arrival of fire fighters so as to confine the fire at the initial stage,” he said.
On what motivated him into the inventions, Owolabi asserted: “The first time I heard that 11 people died some years ago at the scene of a gas explosion in Oshodi where somebody was frying yam and flour, that night I started working on a product that will be a solution to gas explosion in Nigeria. Passersby were affected by the explosion because there was no safety. The gas was bottled and holed directly to the burner.
“The Almighty God normally comes to me in my dreams and tells me what to do. After two years, God revealed the solution to me, which is automatic gas shutter. I tried it and it worked.
“The automatic gas shutter prevents gas explosions from the kitchen. Once it is fixed and there is a leakage or crack in the hole or something goes wrong, it will sense it and shut off the supply of gas when there is a problem.
“Also, there is the fire bus, which is an automatic inbuilt fire extinguisher for cars. It is installed in the regional part of the bonnet. Once there is a fire outbreak, either as a result of a mechanical error, substandard spare parts or accident in a remote area where there is no help, it will be on standby to blast on its own.
“The wooden electricity metre board we have been using since the days of Electricity Company of Nigeria (ECN) has caused a lot of fire outbreaks in the markets, schools, homes, offices, companies and so on. I thought over it and came up with fireproof electricity metre board.”
Owolabi revealed that the products have not been produced for commercial purposes because the government has not been enforcing safety laws in the country. “In Japan, you cannot just have gas in the house without approval from the Japanese Safety Commission. Officials of the commission will come to your house and fix necessary things. They will ensure that they come every year to check and recheck.
“But here in Nigeria, you fix anything or put anything in your house. Nobody checks you and nobody knows what is going on there until there is a fire that will create problem for the street, state and the country,” he noted.
Owolabi, who commended the Director General of Lagos Safety Commission, Mrs. Dominga for her support that led to the public awareness programme for the products, advocated the establishment of Innovation and Invention Centre. He lamented that government has not been doing enough to encourage creativity in the country.
“If this country will develop, government must encourage creativity. Starting from nursery schools, you will see our small boys and girls connecting battery and wire to make torchlight. Once you see a boy or a girl doing such a thing, try and work on him or her and ensure that you give the necessary encouragement.
“We have been doing a lot of things and spending a lot of money but there has not been any form of financial support from the government. If there is no source whereby this encouragement is coming to help the inventors, the creativity will just die.
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