National Fire Academy, Hub For Capacity Building, Emergency Response – Minister

The Federal Government says the National Fire Academy when fully operational will be a hub for capacity building and also boost professionalism in emergency response services.

The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo made this known during an inspection tour of ongoing projects at the Academy in Sheda, Abuja.

The multi billion Fire Academy which is situated on a 10 hectare of land has reached 70 percent completion stage according to the Minister of Interior Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo.

He noted that additional 13 hectares of land is being expected from the Kwali Area Council Administration to build a world class institution that will reduce the cost of travelling abroad for professional courses on emergency operations.

” We are trying to build a world class fire Academy and myself and the Perm Sec and the management of the ministry, part of what we decided now is to extend it beyond fire Academy and to create more like probably an institute for professionalism and career developmental courses, as you can see it’s about ten hectares of land and with the arrangement we just made with the Council and the traditional institution we are getting another thirteen hectares to make it twenty three hectares to really make this a hub for capacity building “.

” With what we are seeing today, the consultant said we are at 70% but for me I will say 60 or 65% with what I have seen and we have been given assurances that by May they will be delivered and I want to say clearly that we sincerely believe that this is a huge one for Mr President, a huge one for this administration because capacity building is key and we understand that in this era, Fire Service is not just about fire ,it should be an emergency response management and rescue services “.

” This Academy provides us that opportunity not just to train the officers of the Federal Fire Service but also to train private sector people and to reduce the capital flight that we have been experiencing when people travel abroad to train themselves on rescue management, rescue services and we believe that we will be able to provide these facilities here to further empower our youths “.

The Comptroller General of the Federal Fire Service, Samuel Olumode-Adeyemi who lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his support to the fire Academy said when completed, the Academy will take more than 30 thousand participants at a stretch.

” This is fire Academy, here we have fire house, we don’t have such in West Africa were you can carry out search and rescue, hre we have accommodation that can carry about 3000 participants at a go, there is no Academy like that so with this I think it’s a big project, a laudable project for Mr President “.

The Chairman Kwali Area Council, Danladi Chiya who commended the present Administration for making the fire Academy a reality in his domain pledged to support the project.

” I happen to be in one of the Area Councils that the Renewed Hope Agenda has been looking keenly into which is Kwali Area Council, and this laudable project that you are seeing is a plus to my own Administration while I ‘m in the office, whatever it’s going to cost me to synergize with the Ministry to achieve what they are looking for is not going to be a problem, as I earlier said we promised and we have agreed “.

The projects which started about two years ago is expected to be completed by May this year.

Nkiruka Njemanze, Edited By Grace Namiji