News
Unemployment: Several Youths to Get Fire Fighting Jobs- FG
Unemployment: Several Youths to Get Fire Fighting Jobs- FG
By: Michael Mike
The federal government is targeting employing several youths as fire fighters to reduce the large rate of unemployment in the nation.
The Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said during the launching of new fire fighting equipment which include 16 trucks and six vehicles at the Headquarters of the Federal Fire Service in Abuja on Wednesday that what is delaying the employment is the enacted of new laws to modernize Fire Fighting in Nigeria.
He noted that when the laws are ready the number of fire fighters needed would be alighted and the need for fire fighters in every public infrastructure in the country would be stipulated, and subsequently allow for more hands to be employed.
Tunji-Ojo while noting that the number of fire fighters in a country shows the level of its development, said Nigeria cannot be among the top economies of the world and have the small population of fire fighters.
According to him, there is a direct correlation between sophistication, industrialization and fire service because the more you grow as an economy, the more you need to expand the coast of your fire service. Fire service is directly related to development in any nation.
Nigeria with just over 6,000 federal fire fighters is among the least number of employed fire fighters in the world.
The Minister said New York with 255 fire houses, Los Angeles with 160 fire stations give the picture of what fight fight and rescue operation should be, noting that US has over a million fire fighters both employed and volunteers.
He said the bill before the National Assembly if accented would change the narratives of fire fighting in the country.
He lamented that: “FFS is a sleeping giant. Your response should not only be combating fire but even forecasting danger. You must be pro-active,” he added that: “I don’t want your performance to be valued around the buildings or infrastructure you prevented from burning down, but rather preventive mechanism to rescue and prevent hazards.”
He said: “For us as a people, we cannot continue to pay lip service non-challant attitude to the issue to fire. As an individual, I believe that the FFS should be the major employer of labour in Nigeria. All we need to do is put on our thinking caps. It is time for the FFS to rise up to her responsibility which is not just about combating fire. It has to do even with forecasting dangers. We have to migrate from the era of corrective activities to the era of being proactive which will lead us to preventive measures that can save us millions of Naira.
“Your strength lies in the decline of fire outbreaks and not the number of fires you fought within a period.
“Extinguishing fires, saving lives and property, rescuing people during accidents and protecting people on the event of other emergencies remained part of your responsibilities.
“Federal Fire and Rescue Service will be expected to collect information across Nigeria and also take care of the health and safety of your personnel.
“I need to have the full range of foreseeable fires, the areas and what we have to combat them. It is very important hay this becomes your next line of action. As government agencies, we put in more efforts in solving problems rather than planning to prevent them.
The FFS must work very closely with NSCDC for security cover. I understand the issues that our FFS men are attacked when they go out on their legitimate duties but with the NSCDC providing such cover, such attacks will be reduced.
“We want your training centres not just for your officials but we want all buildings with more than 10 workers to have fire rescue and safety officers among them. Timely intervention can save lives and billions of Naira.”
The Minister noted that when the bill on fire and rescue service is assented, the FFS will play major role in our national development, insisting that: “For any country to attain it’s potentials, Fire Service cannot be relegated.”
Earlier, the Controller General, Federal Fire Service, Engineer Jaji Abdulganiyu said the fire statistics in the first and
second quarter of 2023 was a testimony of a truly re- engineered Service, noting that records at the Data Repository Centre puts fire call for the period at 1,096,
lives saved -111 successful rescues at 91 and total property saved at over N300
billion.
He assured that with the launching of the state-of-the-art firefighting trucks and
Ford Rapid Response Vehicles (RRV), incredible achievements are going to be made.
Unemployment: Several Youths to Get Fire Fighting Jobs- FG
11 kidnapped Benue Links passengers rescued in Okpokwu
By: Zagazola Makama
Eleven passengers abducted from a Benue Links commercial bus have been safely rescued in a forest near Ondo village in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.
Zagazola Makama recalls that the passengers were kidnapped on June 22 while travelling along the Otukpo–Enugu highway in a Benue Links Hummer bus.
Security sources reliably confirmed that the victims were freed on June 29 following sustained search operations by the security forced supported by local vigilance groups and the Benue State Civil Protection Guard.
Credible intelligence reportedly indicated that the kidnappers were moving the captives through a bush path around Ondo village in Ugbokolo. In response, the rescue teams swiftly mobilised and launched a coordinated search operation in the area.
After several hours of intense combing of the forest, the victims were found alive and safely evacuated to Ugbokolo town, where they were provided immediate care.
The rescued individuals were identified as Bam Joseph, Doom Terhile, Uju Mercy, Ashika Linda, Atule Ladi, Undia Iveren, Terfa Kwshdoo, Akume Hembadoon, Ikpeen Msendoo, Mlumun Hurt, and Philip Igbuan.
One of the victims, Philip Igbuan, suffered a deep machete wound to the head inflicted by the kidnappers and was immediately taken to the General Hospital in Ugbokolo for medical treatment.
The freed passengers have since been debriefed by the Police and Benue Links has arranged transportation to help them reach their original destinations and reunite with their families.
According to accounts from the victims, their abductors were heavily armed and are suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
11 kidnapped Benue Links passengers rescued in Okpokwu
Four police officers killed in ambush by suspected herdsmen in Benue
By: Zagazola Makama
Atleast four mobile police officers attached to the 12 Police Mobile Force (PMF) unit were killed following an ambush by suspected armed herdsmen in Udei village, Guma Local Government Area.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the officers were on special duty when they came under heavy fire on June 29 while responding to a distress call.
The sources said that the officers were alerted around 2:00 p.m. that a large group of armed men, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, were advancing toward Udei village with a herd of cattle.
“The attackers had approached the vicinity of the primary school in Udei, which serves as a base for the deployed PMF 12 personnel. As the officers moved to intercept them, they were ambushed and attacked with heavy gunfire,” the report stated.
Four officers tragically lost their lives in the attack, and their service weapons were reportedly carted away by the assailants. The deceased officers were identified as: Insp. Samuel Bisalla, Insp. Emmanuel Bitrus, Insp. John Sunday and Insp. Kenneth Gabriel
Two other personnel, ASP Jacob Elisha and Insp. Zakari Bangajiya sustained injuries and was rushed to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, for medical attention. They are said to be responding to treatment after suffering from exhaustion and shock.
The corpses of the fallen officers have been deposited at the hospital morgue for preservation and medical examination.
In response to the attack, special tactical units and a reinforced team equipped with an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) have been deployed to Udei and the Daudu Divisional Headquarters to forestall further incidents and restore calm in the area.
Four police officers killed in ambush by suspected herdsmen in Benue
Breaking: Squatters Kill Famous KADVIS Local Commander in Kaduna
By Zagazola Makama
Squatters of a grazing forest by a large community of herders in Kaduna State on Sunday afternoon killed one of the Commanders of Kaduna State Vigilance Service (KADVIS).
Sources told Zagazola Makama that the incident occurred in Yardoka Grazing Reserve in Kubau Local Government Area, located in Northern Kaduna Senatorial District.
The slain Commander, identified as Saleh Shuaibu, popularly known as Saleh Fiya-Fiya, who is the KADVIS Commander in Kubau Local Government, was killed when officials of the Kaduna State Government visited the area to carry out a government directive in a grazing reserve located at the said Yardoka forest.
The directive, according to a source in Anchau, the headquarters of the local council, was to allocate over 200 hectares of land to a certain company for investment purposes, a move the squatters are resisting due to lack of payment of compensation, while another source said the squatters have been paid but are still demanding more money.
Another source explained that the government officials arrived in the company of armed policemen along with personnel of the Department of State Services but were barricaded from accessing the reserve.
It was while the impasse was going on that the slain KADVIS alighted from a van and was intervening with the irate community members armed with cutlasses and sticks, while one of the protesters stabbed him with a knife and killed him on the spot. A claim Zagazola Makama is yet to confirm.
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