Fire outbreaks: Aregbesola wants review of bush burning law

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has called for a review of the law on bush burning in Nigeria following incessant fire incidents in the country.

He made this call while speaking at the Pull-Out Parade of the immediate past Controller General of the Federal Fire Service (FFS), Dr Liman Ibrahim Alhaji, at the Fire Service Academy in Abuja on Thursday.

“The law prohibiting the lazy practice of bush burning should be reviewed and made more relevant to the time.

“This should include the mechanism for its enforcement. I believe strongly that it should be included in the mandate of forest rangers.

“The economic loss and environmental damage due to this obnoxious practice are huge and incalculable. An end must come to it,” he said.

Aregbesola acknowledged that though there were naturally occurring fire incidents, most fire incidents were man-made.

He said fire outbreaks could be prevented mostly if there was enough awareness.

“Nigerians should be made to know the various categories of fire and what the first responders should do before the arrival of fire officers.

“This is the time of the year that fire incidents occur at a higher rate and most items are combustible.

“The service should therefore engage the mass media to sensitise Nigerians on the need to be careful with handling fire and what to do if there is fire incident.

“Conscious efforts should be made to publicise your contact details so that Nigerians will have handy sufficient information on how to contact the service in case of fire,” the minister stressed.

While noting that the biggest challenge of firefighting at this moment is being able to mount an aerial campaign, he urged the FFS to approach the Nigerian Airforce on the use of aeroplanes for spreading water to kill fire from the air.

Liman’s role

Aregbesola said Dr Liman was central to the execution of the federal government’s reforms in the FFS, saying “FFS has also procured fire fighting vehicles and materials at an unprecedented rate under him.

“For instance, last year alone, N10.4 billion worth of infrastructure upgrade comprising of 44 firefighting engines, 15 water tankers, 15 rapid intervention fire engines and 20 basic life support ambulances were procured and distributed across the country.

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“Under him, the service sent firemen on training overseas and collaborated with other government agencies on communication for effective response. This has led to a massive reduction of response time to seven minutes.

“These are just a few remarkable ones in the litany of unprecedented achievements he recorded in office.”

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Liman said he met the FFS in a bad shape but was able to contribute his quota to move the Service forward.

Dr Liman who reeled out his achievements urged personnel to continue to drive the reforms in the Service.

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