National Insurance Commission has resolved to make fire liability insurance compulsory for all public buildings in Nigeria due to rampant fire outbreaks and poor compliance to fire safety rules.
Controller-General of the Federal Fire Service, Dr Ibrahim Liman, during a visit to NAICOM on Monday, expressed the need for public buildings to subscribe to the liability insurance policy to reduce loss in case of fire.
In a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of FFS, Ugo Huan, the fire boss disclosed that the two agencies resolved, among other things, to commence the enforcement of compulsory public building liability insurance across the country.
The CG used the opportunity to highlight the achievements of the service, under President Muhammadu Buhari. They include moving from having two dilapidated fire trucks to having 106 modern fire trucks, 22 water tankers, eight rapid intervention and a 54 meters hydraulic platform with the capacity of fighting fire and carrying out rescue at the 18th floor of a skyscraper.
According to Liman, the FFS has grown from basing in just Abuja and Lagos to having presence in the 36 states of the federation, and has increased personnel from just 600 to 6,512.
He said, “The service has embarked on rigorous public enlightenment on fire safety and has established a technical group to assess the Oil Tank Farm Safety Management in Nigeria, with a view of mitigating disasters attributable to oil tank farm explosions mostly in in the South West and South South.
“The Service responded to 3,555 fire calls, rescued 353 persons and saved property worth N1.351tn across the country in 2020 alone.”
The CG also reminded the Chief Executive Officer of NAICOM, Olorundare Thomas, about the statutory fund meant to be remitted to the service, but had not been forthcoming.
“The fund that is supposed to be remitted to us from NAICOM has not been coming. My appeal to you is that NAICOM can assist the service, especially in the states that are poorly funded in the areas of fire trucks rehabilitation, fire stations rehabilitation, training and retraining of staff, and even providing uniforms where the need be,” he added.
Responding, the NAICOM boss acknowledged that “the law enables NAICOM” to fund the activities of the service.
He said, “We have a regulatory responsibility. The law also enables us to fund the activities of the service; but because there has not been enough enforcement, the funds are not coming. The potential is quite huge. This visit has given us opportunity for a better partnership.”
NAICOM, according to him, will work with the interface consultants introduced to them by the CG in ensuring that the needful is done.
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