By Gami Tadanyigbe
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), in partnership with Hybrid Group, a Nigerian firm involved in provision of safety, project management and allied services, has called on Nigerians to be more safety conscious in order to prevent and reduce the risk of disasters in the country.
Prof. George Okagbare, who represented NOUN’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdalla Adamu, made the call in his welcome address at the Career Empowerment Seminar on Occupational Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to him, specialised education is required by Nigerians to effect meaningful improvement in the global response to environmental disaster and safety management.
“The seminar is aimed at creating awareness about the opportunity that exist in the Health, Safety and Environment industry; fostering academia-industry collaboration.
“It is a demonstration of the university commitment to forging closer ties with industry for the purpose of equipping its students with 21st century skills.
“The university Directorate of Research Administration and Advancement, with mandate to explore linkages and partnership opportunities for job creation, is facilitating this initiative.
“We call on all Nigerians to be safety conscious by avoiding any form of carelessness both at home and the office for disaster risk reduction in the country,’’ he said.
He said safety awareness would reposition the country for disaster risk reduction, capacity building, security management, peace building and partnership through collaboration and empowerment.
In his presentation, Mr Dapo Omolade, the Managing Director, Hybrid Group, said the main objective of the seminar was to provide in-depth information and insight about HSE profession that would assist anyone considering a career in the field.
The managing director said that unemployment rate was at the increase; therefore, the seminar would create gainful employment opportunities for Nigerians in the field of safety and related fields.
Omolade defined Safety Science as a twenty-first century term for everything that went into the prevention of accidents, illness, fires, explosion and other events which harm people, environment and property.
“Safety professionals have responsibilities in every facet of human existence, whether at home, on the road or in any workplace.
“As long as there is interaction between human assets, systems, equipment and Environment, the safety profession has relevance.
“This is because such interactions will bring about varying conditions and situations that will require the skills of an expert to increase productivity,” he said.
He said that Hybrid group was an accredited training provider and had been conducting training programmes, class room and online professional courses for various levels safety management in the country.
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