In a bid to further improve fire safety and fire consciousness in the country, the federal government is considering broadening the use of the National Fire Academy (NFA) Sheda, Abuja, to allow for the training of private firefighters and thus, generating revenue from operational licenses.
The plan was hatched by the minister of interior, Dr Tunji-Ojo Olubunmi when he embarked on an assessment tour of the academy where he said the facility had the capacity to play a key role in training safety officers who would be “on-ground” responders for the private sector.
This came as the minister warned that henceforth, commercial institutions, banks, hotels, schools, malls, recreational centres and other private sector players must have fire safety certificate, stating that fire safety would be a private affair in years to come.
The minister who was impressed with the sights of infrastructure on ground such as the firehouse props, confined space props, aircraft props, newly built and renovated hostels, state-of-the-art administrative block under construction, drill ground and tower, said, “A lot has been done, but there is still a lot more to be done. With what I have seen here, I can guarantee you that we will work very hard to see that this facility will not only be useful in training officers of the fire service but also for the private sector.
“We must make fire safety a personal affair. Every institution, commercial and social recreation centre should have certified fire and safety personnel, trained by this facility”.
According to him, the academy could serve various private sector players, saying, “a market, bank, hotel, mall, restaurant, or even ministries should have first responders who can administer basic firefighting remedy while waiting for the arrival of a full operation squad of the country’s Fire Service”.
He said the tour was aimed at fortifying him with the required knowledge about the situation of things at the facility, and to also help him see how fire service processes could be innovated to serve a broader spectrum in line with the #RenewedHope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The controller -general, Federal Fire Service, Engr. Jaji O. Abdulganiyu acquainted the minister with some of the challenges of the academy namely; budgetary constraints, manpower shortfall, among others. While expressing gratitude to the commitment of Dr. Tunji-Ojo, towards up scaling and facelifting of the National Fire Academy, he said the facility would not only live up to its name but be at par with other prestigious learning institutions around the world as far as firefighting and rescue are concerned.
