Nigeria’s Interior Minister, Mr Rauf Aregbesola has disclosed that the Federal Fire Service (FFS) which is domiciled under his Ministry responded to 2,845 SOS distress-calls in which it saved 587 lives, rescued 260 persons and was able to save N18.9 trillion worth of property in 2021.
Aregbesola made this known while speaking at the decoration of the new Controller General (CG) of FFS, Mr Abdulganiyu Jaji, on Thursday in Abuja.
The minister called on Jaji to work hard to surpass the achievements which were recorded under his predecessor.
He equally tasked the new CG to do his best to justify the investment made by President Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure that the service was thoroughly revamped to meet up with current realities and globally accepted standards.
According to Aregbesola, Jaji is coming to take charge of a service that has been revamped from a moribund institution to a first class disaster and emergency management machine.
The minister went on to recall that when the current administration came on board in 2015, the service was poorly represented across the country with only Abuja and Lagos having just few functioning fire engines.
He stressed that the FFS was now represented in all the States across the federation, with state of the art firefighting and disaster management equipment.
Aregbesola submitted that the Buhari administration had taken special interest in the Ministry of Interior, and had supported its agencies, including FFS to retool and re-kit.
‘As a result of this, the Federal Government provided 106 modern firefighting trucks to the FFS.
‘Last year, the Federal Government also provided a N10.4 billion infrastructure upgrade comprising 44 firefighting engines, 15 water tankers, 15 rapid intervention fire engines and 20 basic life support ambulances.
‘In 2021, 17 firefighting officers were sent to Belarus for an advanced trainer-training course; these officers are the master trainers that are now training other officers on modern firefighting, disaster and emergency management,’ he said.
He went on to recall that an aerial firefighting equipment designed for skyscrapers in Lagos State, was commissioned by the President, saying that Buhari had devoted resources to the FFS more than the service ever had since inception.
Aregnesola, however, appealed to building approving agencies never to approve any plan without the input of the FFS.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK