By Correspondent in Akure
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola has on Tuesday inaugurates a new State-of-the Art fire -fighting truck in Akure, Ondo State to further boost the capacity of the service.
The Director of Press/Public Relations of the ministry, Mohammed Magna, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja.
The minister, while inaugurating the project at the Government House, Alagbaka Akure, said the deployment of the newly procured fire engines across the country would go a long way in boosting emergency response.
He, however, noted that the Federal Fire Service was now present in all the 36 states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.
According to him, the Federal Fire Service has between the months of June 2019 till date, responded to over 2,615 fire calls, saved 724 lives and assets worth more than N1.629 trillion.
Aregbesola therefore, called on Nigerians to be cautious in the usage of fire especially, as the dry season sets in to prevent all forms of fire disaster during the festive period and beyond.
The Minister appealed to the youth and those with the tendency of burning bushes, to restrain from such act as well as reckless disposal of un-burnt cigarettes among others, during the dry season.
He added that to reduce the response time to emergencies, the service had now increased its zonal commands to 12 with the establishment of additional six zonal commands in Bauchi, Makurdi, Kubwa, FCT, Abeokuta, among others.
Aregbesola, however, advised those in the habit of attacking firemen and equipment to desist from such practices, describing it as a reckless and mindless act
“It is wrong to attack fire-fighters and their trucks. When we attack them, we destroy ourselves, as the fire will not be put out; henceforth, whoever attacks them will face the wrath of the law.”
Earlier, the Governor of the sate,
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, expressed committment to enhancing the collaboration between the state and the service.
Akeredolu further assured of his administration’s determination to ensuring that all fire stations were put in good shape for quick response to emergencies
Also, the Controller-General, Federal Fire Service, Dr Liman Ibrahim, stated that the deployment of the equipment to the state was in line with the resolve of the President to ensure the safety of lives and property in the country.
Ibrahim added that the service had already established six new fire service training schools in Katsina, Kwara, Osun, Abia, Borno and Cross River to cover the six geopolitical zones.
This, he said, was to cater for the human capital development needs of the service locally.
