The Controller-General of Federal Fire Service (FFS) Joseph Garba Anebi has said that his agency lost six personnel in the last five years to fire incidents.
The FFS boss, however, said the benefits of all the dead officers have been paid to their family members, including befitting burial for the affected officers. Addressing a press conference in Abuja as part of activities marking this year’s Fire Fighters Day, FFS Controller General Engr. Joseph Garba Anebi, canvassed for Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to provide for optimal and safer method of engagement for different fire scenarios. He also warned that states that are yet to implement the National Fire Safety Code may be compelled to do so.
The FFS boss, who was represented by the Assistant Controller General, Quisqus Azagu, also revealed that: “For the past five years we have had over N5.5 trillions lost to fire disasters in Nigeria. It is huge and quite significant. When there is fire apart from losses from the properties there is also loses in income, there is lost of lives, and there is also lost in suppression of fire, so the lost is quite huge, it cannot be quantify easily because there are cases of fire disasters that are not reported to the Federal Fire Service. So, we know that fire is a major threat to socio-economic stranding of the country.”
Azagu and other management team in attendance also revealed that in the last three years the agency has also lost about six fire fighters in the course of duty but added that FFS made all the necessary arrangements for their burials and benefits. When asked about the challenges facing the agency, Azagu said: “There are obvious challenges, for the past 30 years we have stayed without having appropriate firefighting equipment at the federal level, we don’t have men but we are grateful to the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, has transformed the fire service.
Up till date we have acquired 40 new fire fighting trucks and we have been able to deploy so e of these equipment to the zones where we have presence,” he stated. While canvassing for Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), he said new emerging challenges have further heightened the threat fire fighters face in the field.
He said, “Many states are not implementing the fire safety code; Over N5trn has been lost to fire in the last five years, excluding human lives which cannot be estimated. We may need to amend the Fire Service Act to compel states to implement the Fire Safety Code.”
