FG Aims To Provide Fire-firefighting Jobs To Reduce Youth Unemployment

Federal Government is aiming to reduce youth unemployment by employing numerous individuals as firefighters.

Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the Minister of Interior, made this announcement during the launch of new firefighting equipment, including 16 trucks and six vehicles at the Federal Fire Service headquarters in Abuja.

the delay in employment is due to the need for new laws to modernize firefighting in Nigeria.

According to him, once the new laws are in place, the required number of firefighters will be determined, and regulations will be established for the presence of firefighters in public infrastructure throughout the country, allowing for more employment opportunities.

Currently, Nigeria has only about 6,000 federal firefighters, which is one of the lowest numbers in the world.

The minister highlighted examples from the United States, where cities like New York and Los Angeles have hundreds of fire stations and over a million firefighters, both employed and volunteers.

He said:“For us as a people, we cannot continue to pay lip service and non-challant attitude to the issue of 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 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 in 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.

“The FFS must work very closely with NSCDC for security cover. I understand the issue 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 centers 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.”