Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has warned both local and state governments not to depend on the federal government for fire fighting in their domains.
Speaking at the inauguration of 20 newly procured fire fighting equipment in Abuja, on Tuesday, Aregbesola said fire fighting was under the concurrent list and both state and local governments should not shy away from this responsibility
He said local and state governments should have capacity to fight fire as the Federal Fire Service was only to complement their provision.
He said “local government chairmen must procure equipment to fight fire as well as state governors.”
He said it was until this is done that we could have effective fire fighting in the country.
Aregbesola said: “The state should know that we are only complementing them, they should ensure adequate provision is made for fighting fire and the same provision should be supported at the local government level.”
On the latest procurement, Aregbesola said: “These equipment are part of the N10.4 billion infrastructure upgrade approved by the Federal Executive Council on March 3, comprising of 44 firefighting engines, 15 water tankers, 15 rapid intervention fire engines (not conventional ones) that can go into any nook and cranny to respond to distressed calls and 20 basic life support ambulances.”
The minister said it was best to prevent fire, noting that: “This begins with buildings design and equipment. A lot of buildings, including public ones and high-rise structures, are not fire preventive and do not have fire fighting facilities. Many homes and vehicles would have been saved if the small mobile fire extinguishers have been handy when fire struck.”
He lamented that: “There is also the superstitious belief that fire incidents usher prosperity. This is callous and dangerous. Some people lost their life investments in fire from which they never recover while human lives lost to fire can never be brought back.”
Also speaking on the occasion which was also used to pull out newly retired senior officers of the FFS, the Controller General, Dr Liman Ibrahim praised President Muhammadu Buhari for the investment in the nation’s firefighting equipment and development of personnel, insisting that Nigeria had never had it this good.
He said the equipment would be deployed in bringing improvement in firefighting across the nation.
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