Lagos residents bet to make hoax calls to emergency services – LASEMA sources

There have been growing concerns about a significant rise in false calls to emergency services by residents in Lagos State.

PUNCH Metro however learnt that some residents are making hoax calls because of bets placed among themselves.

Sources in the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and Lagos State Fire and Rescue Services who spoke to our correspondent on Saturday disclosed that some individuals often edged a bet to confirm if they would respond or not.

The development was said to have seriously disrupted the operations of the agencies.
One of the sources who craved anonymity as he was not permitted to speak on the matter said the cases of betting were discovered during findings made by the agencies to determine the factors associated with hoax calls.

“We have experienced an increase in false calls made to our offices and it was on this note that we discovered that some of the calls were made for different reasons, but the most surprising of them were cases of individuals making false calls after betting between themselves on whether we would respond or not.”

Another source who claimed to have experienced this alongside his team of emergency responders said it occurred three times.
“I have experienced this three times and we met the culprits during one of the encounters. When we got there the very day, we called them and they picked up. They later came out and told us that they had bet within themselves and they thought whether we would come or not. We could not do anything because the environment was very volatile,” he explained.
In April 2023, a Lagos magistrates court in Ikeja convicted a teenager, Uzuokwu Solomon, for making a false emergency call to the fire service.

The spokesperson for LASEMA, Nosa Okunbor, could not be reached as calls made to his phone were not responded to. A text message sent to him had yet to be responded to.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the LSFRS, Amodu Shakiru, said hoax calls recorded as a result of betting could not be ruled out.

He said, “With the advent of sports betting, it cannot be ruled out because the false call is not abating even after we made examples of false callers being prosecuted. We feel it ought to have reduced but appears to be on a steady rise, so we cannot rule out the possibility of making false calls on game betting.”

He added that the hoax callers were not always available at the address where the incident was said to have occurred.

He said, “You don’t even get to see them, you can’t even identify them when you get to the spot. The few ones we have been able to apprehend among those making hoax calls, we had to work with the police before apprehending them. For example, when you get to the location, it is either an address found but no cases of fire incident or an untraceable address. And in such an instance, if you call back the caller, it is either they are not picking up their calls or the line is switched off.
“We are making efforts to correct them and that is to enforce laws. It is also a criminal law by the Criminal Code of the country. When the Lagos State Government promulgated the law in 2012, it was all about how we enforce this because some of the calls are from third parties and because we don’t want to deter them from calling for help on behalf of someone else.

“So, by the time we start to prosecute everybody, it will also affect them and they may be discouraged to continue doing that for those in need of help in emergency cases,” he added.