From January 1 to December 7 in Sokoto state, various fire occurrences resulted in the destruction of N860 million worth of property and the deaths of three people.
The number was revealed on Thursday in Sokoto at a critical stakeholder meeting on the prevention and mitigation of fire outbreaks by Mr. Nuhu Lawal, the fire prevention officer of the Sokoto State Fire Service.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) Sokoto State Operation Office organised the event.
In his lecture on “Overview of Fire Outbreaks in Sokoto state,” Lawal said that the agency reacted to 433 incidents and that over the course of the period, nearly N7 billion in property was rescued.
He claimed that in addition to zonal headquarters in three senatorial districts and other specific locations, the fire department has fire fighting vehicles at each of the 23 local government areas.
The service promised prompt response to distress calls, but the prevention officer bemoaned the recent rash of false emergency calls from some unscrupulous individuals.
When our troops arrived at the aforementioned scenes, it frequently happened that there wasn’t a fire outbreak in the region.
The stakeholders gathering, according to NEMA Sokoto Office Head Mr. Aliyu Kafindangi, was a part of measures to raise awareness and educate the public about fire disasters as harmattan had already begun.
According to Kafindangi, NEMA has planned road walks and awareness campaigns for public spaces as activities to raise awareness of fire events.
He emphasised that disaster response was a shared responsibility in his article titled “Overview of Disaster Management” and that NEMA could not do it alone.
He emphasised the value of cooperation among players, including the state and federal fire services, SEMA, NOA, security agencies, and others.
Kafindangi bemoaned the fact that, based on disaster predictions, NEMA had sent five letters of caution, urging an immediate reaction, and other communications to the Sokoto State Government without receiving a single reply.
He claimed that the government of Nigeria allocated a certain amount of money for disasters, which would be used by the relevant organisations.
He pointed out that municipal, state, and federal governments created the layers of agencies and departments, whereas international organisations only provided assistance in the event of major calamities.
Mr. Bello Kabiru from the Federal Fire Service gave another lecture on the many types of fire incidents, prevention, mitigation, and extinguishing methods.
