As part of efforts to prevent incidents of fire outbreak in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the chairman of Kuje Area Council, Hon. Ishaku Shaban Tete, has appealed to council authorities to provide the necessary support by setting up adequate machinery that would enable them to embark on effective public enlightenment.
The call was contained in an address read on his behalf by the Head of Personnel, Kuje area council, Alkali Ibrahim Muhammad, during a two-day opening and closing ceremonies on Fire Disaster Prevention for the officers of the FCT Area Council Unified Service for Gwagwalada and Kuje councils, held recently at the Kuje secretariat conference hall, in partnership with PFA Services and Consulting Ltd.
He urged the establishment of task forces that would be charged with the responsibility of protecting vegetation and forest resources against the hazard of bush burning.
According to him, the task force should also be empowered to apprehend and prosecute offenders.
Earlier, in his speech, Mr. Ogbo Nwachukwu of PFA Services and Consulting Ltd, said “Nigeria loses about N50 million worth of property every year to fire incidents, apart from previous lives sent to their untimely graves as a result of the incidents.”
He maintained that available statistics had shown that fire incidents had occurred due to the expansion of cities “without corresponding provision of fire safety, building plans approval without due consideration for safety requirement, hazardous materials being manufactured and handled without recourse to safety.”
The workshop had lectures on elementary fire prevention, evacuation and demonstrations on the operation of fire extinguishers, and common causes of fire prevention, amongst others.
