The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola has inaugurated a Fire Service Training Academy on Tuesday in Abuja.
The minister described the customized training academy as one of the best in Africa and first in Nigeria, designed to meet specific training needs of firefighters in the country.
Aregbesola added that the target was to enhance the capacity of firemen in responding professionally to fire and other emergencies.
The minister said going forward, the academy should regularly update its training curriculum to reflect latest innovations in fire fighting and indoctrinate every fireman on how to protect lives and property of Nigerians.
He also urged the firemen to let the message of serving Nigerians in fire fighting and protection of lives and properties ring loud and clear in their hearts.
Aregbesola said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had so far taken firefighting to unprecedented level in the history of the country.
“When the administration came to power in 2015, the Fedral Fire Service was only represented in Abuja and Lagos with two functional fire engines.
“But now, the service is represented in all the states of the federation with state-of -the-art firefighting and disaster management infrastructure,” he said.
He said the federal government had provided 106 modern fire fighting trucks to the Federal Fire Service (FFS) and upgraded 44 firefighting engines.
The minister added that the government also provided 15 water tankers, 15 rapid intervention fire engines as well as 20 basic live support ambulances for the FSS.
The minister also inaugurated the Kubwa Metropolitan Fire Station, the first among the 13 new stations across the country.
He said that the Kubwa fire station was positioned strategically for rapid fire and rescue operations in the district.
Aregbesola encouraged the officers and men of the service to dwell more on public advocacy and campaign on fire prevention.
The minister advised architects, builders, house owners and regulatory officials to insist on factoring fire and other emergencies in building plans.
“As human beings, we face the ravages and devastation of fire on daily basis due to negligence or involuntary acts of nature.
“Nigerians should at all times have fire fighting equipment like fire extinguishers and carry out regular fire drills simulation,” he added.