Finance Minister Carpets Workers, Blames Public Offices’ Fire Incidents On Carelessness
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has called out civil servants’ carelessness for the incessant fire incidents in most public buildings across the country.
She said evident acts of negligence and slackness by some workers in handling electrical appliances within various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have seen the government losing huge resources and materials through fire outbreaks in public institutions.
Speaking at the official commissioning of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF)’s Fire Station in Abuja on Wednesday, Mrs Ahmed described the rising incidents of fire bursts in MDAs as most worrying and regrettable.
According to her, failure of most civil servants to strictly observe fire preventive tips has been largely responsible for some offices going up in flames and leaving in its wake colossal financial and material dents on government
“Of recent, fire incidents have been reported in many government offices and in most cases, such incidents were as a result of failure to plan and implement fire preventive and safety measures”, the Minister said.
In noting that “The Treasury is the key driver of the ongoing Public Financial Management Reforms in line with the desire of the Federal Government to bring the nation up to speed with other leading world economies”, Mrs Ahmed said the work environment must therefore not only be conducive but safe for operations.
For her, the Controller-General of Federal Fire Service must work on deploying the Service personnel to man fire Sub-Station in various government agencies as part of measures to safeguard lives and public property.
Also canvassing effective collaboration between the Fire Service and MDAs, Mrs Ahmed wants the “Federal Fire Service undertake to assist the OAGF further by organizing fire drills and other trainings to create fire awareness among the staff”.
The Minister applauded the OAGF’s prioritization of fire detection, prevention and control as a welcome development and urged the Treasury staff to dutifully protect the sub-station facility from vandalism while effectively cooperating with Fire Service personnel always.
Speaking at the occasion, Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Idris Ahmed described the Fire sub-station facility as a critical national infrastructure that should be set-up in all government and public organizations.
Idris, who noted that the project “is a product of one of the best models of inter-agency collaboration and synergy among government institutions”, assured the facility would be maintained based on global best practices.
in appreciating the Fire Service for fully deploying about 35 men and women to man the sub-station, the AGF also promised to adequately ensure the welfare of personnel deployed to service the Treasury.
On his part, Controller-General of the Federal Fire Service, Dr Liman Alhaji Ibrahim said given several fire incidents, resulting in avoidable loss of lives and property nationwide, “We must remain ever vigilant and resolute in our resolve to curtail the prevailing threat of fire” across the country.
The Fire boss regretted that there have been several fire incidents as well as loss of lives and property that were avoidable nationwide, adding; “What is more worrisome is the absence or near absence of structured measures to check the scourge.”
He said the “nation’s efforts at consolidating her socio-economic gains have been significantly compromised by this scourge. Hence, the need to address the scourge of uncontrolled fires in our environment through a layered management approach cannot be over emphasized.”
“While these are grim reminders that the threat of fire is a very clear and present danger in our lives as humans, they are nonetheless grave reminders that we must not rest on our oars”, the Controller-General said.
Further acknowledging that the Federal Government is doing everything to ensure the Nation has a vibrant Fire Service, Dr Liman however said; “Stakeholders in the fire sector therefore owe it to a duty to proffer solutions and chart a course towards ameliorating and cutting the losses we suffer collectively to fire outbreaks.”
