Dr. Liman Ibrahim, is the Controller General of the Federal Fire Service (FFS). He was recruited into the Niger state Fire Service in 1986. After serving the state for 11 years he was invited by the then Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Alhaji Abba Gana to start what is known today as FCT Fire Service. Dr. Ibrahim later transferred his service to the Federal Fire Service and emerged the Controller General in 2019. In this interview with BODE OLAGOKE, he speaks on challenges facing his agency, what his leadership has been able to achieve in the last one year and his vision for the FFS, among others.
Before you came on board what was the situation like in the Federal Fire service?
Very bad! In Abuja we only had two old fire trucks bought in the 1980s, in Lagos we had only one also bought in the 1980s, and we were just managing them because they were not road worthy. When they tell you a vehicle isn’t road worthy, you know what it means. When we turned them out for fire emergencies, we have to be praying to reach the scene. If they reach the scene we will all be praying they finished the operation successfully. And when they finished, we have to pray that they return to the base successfully and that was how bad it was.
The staff strength was less than one thousand but as I told you earlier when the present administration came on board, the president had the passion for the Service. They took the bull by the horn by appropriating enough fund for the Federal Fire Service. So by 2016 the first budget of the Fire Service they gave us substantial sum of money, we bought 23 fire-fighting vehicles, and 15 water tanker of 10,000 litres capacity.
In 2017 again the same administration approved for the service to buy 21 fire-fighting trucks, recovery vehicles and establishment of mobile workshop. In 2018, the same administration gave us money to buy 23 fire-fighting trucks and 8 rapid interventions. Fire truck is not something you go to the shelves and pick, you have to give specification to manufacturers and they would take 6 – 8 months for them to be able to assemble what they call chasis because fire truck is made up of three major component chasis, bumbs and body structure. So when we give contract the manufacturer has to go to another company to buy the chasis because there are no companies in the world that has the monopoly of the three components.
So you have to source some parts from other companies. And as a result of this we have to roll over and that is where we are now because we were able to buy these trucks. And we were able to expand our operations beyond Abuja and Lagos. What we did in 2016 was that we were able to convert the six geo-political zones to zonal Fire Services Headquarters and we deployed our personnels there and our equipment.
Again, when I came on board last year 26th of March, I was able to access fund and took delivery of more fire trucks and I had to expand our services and instead of having six zones, I created additional six zones with the primary aim of reducing the distance we are going to cover to improve on our response-time because in managing disaster, time is key.
It is heart-warming that we had 12 zones and Abuja now. In Abuja we have up to 19 Fire Stations, in Lagos we have 11 Fire Stations. And in each of the six geo-political zones we have two, and each zone comprises of two states. Another problem facing not only Federal Fire Service is training and re-training. so I made proposal to the government and I got approval to establish Fire Service Training School in each of the six geo-political zones. So that of North West has taken off in Katsina state.
We have trained the first batch of both Federal and State Fire Men. The next would be South West in Ilesha from there we would go to Maiduguri because there they have given us temporary structures to be used as training schools. That is why we are kick-starting the training at those level and with the coming of this administration our population has risen from 1,200 to 5,860 now. So we are almost 6,000 fire fighters in the country. So we have enough personnel to handle disasters when they come.
In the past few months we have heard of the stories of markets been gutted by fire; I think there was a case in Edo, Lagos, Kano then Benue. How do your men handle it?
I have spoken enough on this market fires; as long as the market authorities allow people sleep in their shops there would be fire outbreak. Home activities are now brought into the Nigerian markets. People are ironing, people are cooking and when you are cooking you are using either gas or stove, there going to be trouble. That is one aspect. Second aspect is that people do illegal electricity connection.
Thirdly, every space made available for fire truck to park has been taken over by shops so to get access into the market to fight fire is a problem. Fourthly, there is no availability of water in these markets to fight fire. We are engaging the market authority. in this case, the local government council not just the state government to ensure that they look at the safety of people first. We discovered that all these things are happening because they want to get revenue by all means.
Certainly, if we can address these four issues I have mentioned, we would be able to minimize fire outbreaks. If you look at Wuse market after the incident that happened in 2005 or 2007, Malam Nasir El Rufai, then as FCT Minister took the bull by the horn. He implemented our recommendations and since that time we haven’t recorded any major fire in Wuse market. So we request other markets to emulate what Wuse market did.
Today, we can enter there with our fire-fighting trucks and even if there is fire the security officers placed at the market can extinguish it even before our arrival. So that is what we expect from markets. But if you go to so many markets you would be disappointed.
Another market that has followed the recommendation of Wuse market is Sabon Gari market in Kano. You know they had one terrible experience like that and we were engaged by the state government. We gave them our report and recommendation after the incident. Now, they have a fire station now in Sabon Gari market coupled with good access road networks within the market for fire trucks to follow. In addition, we have our men in the market in case of any emergency. We want other markets to come on board as well as their authorities so that we can see what we can do to save lives and peoples’ investments.
The country loses trillions and billions of naira to fire disaster regularly. What are your advice and recommendations to the government to reduce these loses?
With this step the government has taken, we are already addressing it. The truth is that the public has lost confidence in the fire service before 2015. The situation was so bad that if there was outbreak of fire and no fire trucks and no personnel what happened?
However, with what is happening now, we have covered 12 zonal offices with equipment and personnel, we have also covered some states with our personnel and equipment. In the remaining states we have our personnel, but no equipment yet. Remember that the 36 states and FCT have their own fire service established by their own governments. Unfortunately many don’t have the capacity.
So what we are trying to do as I talk to you now, is that 12 of the vehicles we ordered have arrived at the port, 6 on the sea now and another 14 on the various stages of manufacturing. So the moment we are able to take delivery of this we would have the presence of Federal Fire Service at the headquarters of the 36 states of the federation. So I am imploring states to also emulate what the federal is doing. Even if they are not able to cover the entire local governments, they should be able to cover senatorial districts in their states. My intention is that in the next two years with the way we are going now, we are going to order another 23 firefighting truck this year, by the time we are taking delivery of these trucks we are extending our operations to senatorial headquarters. Our role is to complement what the states are doing.
With the number of trucks you said you are going to order and the number you have on ground how are you able to fuel them and service them in case of emergency?
One of the terms of the contract is preventive maintenance. The supplier or manufacturer will carry out two years maintenance after which we are going to be engaging the same manufacturer because these are sophisticated equipment. For the fuelling, the government gave us enough money to fuel our vehicles. Every month we receive our overheads for fuelling of those vehicles.
Are you satisfied with Ffederal government commitment to your agency?
If I say I am more than satisfied, you would say I am joking. But to be honest I told you where we are coming from. As I am talking to you now, I remember when the present administration came, we only had three functional fire trucks. And they gave us money to refurbish old ones before the new ones came. We refurbished 15, making 18 fire trucks. And those old ones are still working till today because every two years we refurbish them so that they would be working. For the new ones the Federal Government approved 96 and we have taken delivery of 78 now remaining 18. The remaining 18 are at various stages of manufacturing in Turkey and Austria.
So specifically before you leave office Sir, what legacy do you want to leave behind?
Thank you very much! Before I leave I told you earlier I want to cover the entire 109 senatorial districts in Nigeria. If federal fire fighters can stop there it is ok. I will try to consolidate the zonal headquarters at the state command and I want to make sure the training school have moved to their permanent site and are fully operational.
We have National Fire Academy and my intention is beyond training Nigerian fire fighters. I want to reach West African countries so that they would patronize our school. So these are the few things. I dont want unfulfilled legacy. But if I have the resources, because as I am talking to you we have 774 local governments in Nigeria, and we are in less than 400 local governments in both federal and the state which is not good enough.
The truth is that if we are to drive from here to cover 20 – 30KM for emergency we have wasted a lot of time. And you know time is key when it comes to emergency. It doesn’t wait but if we can move to senatorial districts and the state can try in each senatorial district to have two or three fire stations in local Governments, I am sure I would be getting closer to the people and the closer we are to the community the better our response to emergency.
What has been the impact of your partnership with the Nigerian Defence Academy?
I think three years back we entered into MOU with the Nigerian Defence Academy to run Post Graduate Degree program and Master’s degree on Risk and Disaster Management. I think the first set wrote their first semester exams last year which brought the Fire Services into the limelight. Again it was another area for people to know more about the Fire Service. The program is taking place here in Abuja which is the National Fire Service Academy and the report reaching me so far is that people are impressed. However, we need to create room for upgrading of our facilities which I have promised the Co-ordinator of the program we would do.
Fighting fire with technology, any hope in this regard, and in terms of welfare of staff could you outline some of your achievements?
You are talking of fighting fire with technology; the Federal Fire Service we have today is just like we are starting from 2015 because to be honest with you I would assume we were not there before 2015, so we are just starting. We would be there but not now. There are some basics that are required and it is the basics that I am working on now. Maybe when I leave office another person will take it to another level. I told you the public has lost confidence in Federal Fire Service and that is why each organisation has their own fire service outfit. But thank God I have received up to 14 governors here, and seven Vice Chancellors that are coming to partner with Federal Fire Service.
If we had not being performing they wouldn’t have come here and I have visited more than 20 governors because I want them to reposition their state fire services and in terms of motivations, and equipment. we can look at so many areas. But, let me say the equipments are capital intensive. They are costly. In terms of welfare of workers, the Federal Government is paying their salaries as at when due. And depending on available resources, training is being carried out both local and international levels. And in case of death in line of duty, I think the office of the Head Service handls the insurance aspect. We also take some responsibilities, for instance those died, we assist in the burial expenses.
There is the issue of urban settlements, as they are building houses what are the things they should take into consideration?
When we talk of Lagos one of the problem they have is that people build on NNPC pipelines. We have a department on Special Investigation. The truth is that before you even put up a structure you suppose to bring your building plan and we will advise you. And we will continue to follow up the building to ensure you stick to the plans until it is completed. Then we will certify it. But unfortunately, some states are not co-operating. On our part, all we have to do is to ensure that the house is safe and we seek cooperation from the States, Ministry of Works etc. In FCT we have what we call Development Control. It is such that those that want to build, they have to bring the buildings plans here. We make our input and we conduct periodic inspection as the project goes on. So I can say it is 50/50. We also have National Fire Safety Court which is to enforce the compliance with our installation of fire safety equipment.
The former CG once said that there are so many Federal government houses and buildings in Abuja that are not fire service safety compliant. What are you doing about this, are you sanctioning them?
Yes, especially the Estates. I am advising them because each estate is supposed to have a Fire Station or Fire Post and the management is supposed to be able to buy a fire truck. And if they don’t have personnel, they can request from us because we are covering so many federal government agencies and we wouldn’t mind giving out personnel to estates because they have invested so much.
However, in Abuja and Lagos we have good coverage in the entire communities. But in other states there are gaps. We would see how we can close those gaps. I am in a hurry to reach where you people want us to reach and we have what it takes. Honestly the government haven’t disappointed us both the Presidency, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Interior. In fact it is our duty now to live up to their expectations.
How I ran Federal Fire Service in the last one year – Dr. Liman Ibrahim
