Aregbesola advises firefighters on positive work attitude

The Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has advised men of the Federal Fire Service (FFS) to put up a positive work attitude to effectively save lives and property in the country.

Aregbesola, represented by Dr Shuaib Belgore, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, gave the advice during the decoration of 69 newly promoted senior officers at FFS headquarters on Wednesday in Abuja.

The minister, while congratulating the officers, urged them to rule the service in a more effective, relevant and powerful way.

“As for your attitude to the job; to whom much is given, much is expected; this service has to step up its performance in response time to work and emergency response.

“There are more equipment now and training are ongoing so, it is your responsibility to make the public recognise how important the service is and how effective it can be. Rule your service to be more effective and powerful,” the minister said.

Aregbesola said that although he was aware of the dichotomy between the Federal Fire Service and the State Fire Services, such bureaucratic issues were not to affect the service delivery of fire services across the country.

FFS Controller General, Liman Ibrahim, stated that the promotion of officers was based on merit after rigorous exercises and examination.
Ibrahim said that 157 staff were promoted during the 2020/2021 promotion exercise.

“The promotion has given the top management a boost as we now have four deputy controller generals (DCGs), 14 assistant controller generals (ACGs), 9 controllers (CFs), 11 deputy controllers (DCFs) and 26 assistant controllers (ACFs).

“This elevation will strengthen our restructuring drive aimed at fostering professionalism,” he said.

The CG said that 50 personnel had recently been trained on Medical Emergency Preparedness alongside 50 instructors and 30 investigators who received trainings locally.

He said: “21 officers have just returned from Belarus on trainings in different fields; 10 officers are ready to travel to Dubai for training on hydraulic platform while 15 will be attending an International Disaster Management course in the UK.

“No fewer than 20 junior cadre firemen that were permitted to pursue self development courses graduated successfully and have just been converted to the senior cadre,” Ibrahim added.

He further said that the construction of seven metropolitan fire stations in all the geopolitical zones including the Federal Capital Territory was ongoing.

Ibrahim, however, said that more funds was needed in the areas of: capacity building, completion of on-going projects, provision of chemicals and ancillary equipment.

He said that the service in the first quarter of 2021 saved property worth N3.7 trillion and had an estimated property loss of N9.42 billion.