Need for a functional fire service

Perhaps, of all federal government ministries, agencies and parastatals, the Federal Fire Service of Nigeria can be said to be one of the least publicized, even as it strives to safe guard human lives and property from hazards.

However, the service on its own has continued to carry out education and public enlightenment campaigns of the populace on fire prevention realizing that in a situation where there is a dearth of human and material resources the mass media has to fill the void.

To an average Nigerian the red painted siren-blaring fire-fighting vehicles are all that are known and recognized as synonymous with the service. But the reality is that there is a whole lot of managerial architecture involved in planning for the fire hazards and managing the service to ensure effective and efficient delivery to avert losses to fire incidents.

For example, a well-equipped fire-fighting truck costs over N200m and in addition there are some other ancillary components that are necessary to successfully fight any fire occurrence.

From its modest origin over a century ago when it was started and attached to the Police Force and even managed by non-Nigerians, the Federal Fire Service now boasts of a full-fledged and an autonomous entity with a staff strength of over 1,580 personnel spread across almost all the six geopolitical zones in the country and has only five functional firefighting trucks at its headquarters in Area 10, Abuja.

The only five functional firefighting trucks in the arsenal of the service is considered by knowledgeable experts as grossly inadequate for its operational needs.

Realizing the importance of the Federal Fire Service in tackling the fire hazards facing the country, the Federal Executive Council approved the sum of over N1billion to the Agency, which is yet to be released to them for over two years now.

It is also a fact that due to paucity of funds, the Federal Fire Servicehas not bought any new firefighting trucks for over 30 years now, even asthe old ones are rapidly ageing.

The service as is presently constituted derives its power andmandate from an Act of parliament of 1963 but which became operational in1964.

Its mandate can therefore be summarized briefly as follows: aresponsibility to rescue, fire prevention, mitigation, fire-fighting,paramedical and information services to all Nigerians irrespective ofstatus or ethnic background to minimize the possibility of loss of lives and property to fire and other related emergencies.

In order to understand the enormous challenges posed by its mandate,Nigerians are reminded of the fire disasters that had happened in the pastin various parts of the country namely: Republic building -Marina Lagos;NECOM -House; NEPA -Headquarter Marina Lagos; Cocoa – House Ibadan; NITEL -building Lagos; Defense Headquarters Lagos; NITEL – Exchange Ikeja Lagos; Ariaria Market Aba; Ministry of Education Lagos; NITEL Exchange -Benin city; Kano Market fire; Onitsha Market fire; Minna Central Market, fire; Mandila building, Balogun Lagos; Wuse Market fire; Lapai House, Lagos; Kings way building, Lagos; NEMA building, Lagos; FRCN (Radio) Gwagwalada, Abuja; Federal Secretariat, Lagos; 1004 Housing Lagos; Ikeja Military Cantonment, Lagos; Idumagbo Fire, Lagos and Jesse Pipeline fire disaster, Delta State.

In all the above stated fire outbreaks, property estimated at severalbillions of Naira were lost and destroyed also resulting to loss ofuncountable number of lives and injuries.  In all those occurrences theFederal Fire Service was always called to action.

In recent times in spite of the challenges facing the services in all areaof resources for operational purposes, the service responded to 72 firerelated emergencies in Abuja, while the Lagos command responded to 182calls.

In addition the service intensified the inspection of facilities in Abuja,Lagos, Port-Harcourt and Kaduna and risk assessment and evaluation reportsfor Federal Ministries and other Public building were undertaken.

The Comptroller-General of the service Engr. Anebi Garuba believes stronglythat with the support of government and all relevant agencies that theFederal Fire Service will do its best to minimize the outbreak andconsequences of fire out breaks when they do occur.

To achieve those goals the Federal Fire Service through its academy inAbuja has continued to train all cadres of fire-fighting personnel tomanage fire hazards and other forms of disasters to meet the challenges ofthe time. The service also continually liaises with other states fireservices across the nation.

The service, as a matter of routine, has intensified public education ofthe Nigerian masses on the dangers of fire hazard.  Consequently it hasalso drummed it up to all Nigerians to avoid the use of substandardmaterials when constructing their buildings. It is therefore mandatory forpublic building projects and even private ones to be supervised whenbuilding materials and electrical components are to be installed in thebuildings.

Owners of petrol stations and like public buildings are expected to acquirecertificates of safety, after due inspection by the Federal Fire Service,to avoid substandard materials that are prone to fire hazards.

Nigerians should count themselves lucky that the country is not prone tosome natural disasters like in other unfortunate countries in the world.

The fact that disasters have been the major cause of people moving from oneplace to another and also responsible for many deaths globally, and theoutcome is usually loss of lives and property, environmental destructionand dislocation of economic and social values of the people that inhabitssuch community has made it imperative for both government andnon-governmental organizations to guide against the occurrence of theseemergences and when they happen to remain proactive toward nipping them inthe bud before their deadly effects are witnessed by the people.

 The Comptroller General of the service Engr. Anebi Garba is eagerlywaiting for that day when all Nigerians and other stakeholders wouldrealize that fire prevention just like security is everybody’s business.

He is optimistic that a day will soon come when the public privatepartnership arrangement being put in place will be concluded to enable fire occurrences to be beamed into his office, which will provoke an instant and immediate response to minimize time that might be lost.

If we are able to stem the spate of fire disasters in our environment andsociety, we would as well be assured of economic growth and sustainable development. After all, the hall mark of good governance is infrastructural development and the sustainability of the lives and property of its citizenry.