Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Works and Fire Service Prof Eno Ibanga has said that the state Fire service would be overhauled following complaints over the comatose condition of the service.
This is after the administration of former Governor Godswill Akpabio spent over a Billion Naira to purchase equipments and build fire service offices in sensitive areas and across the 10 federal constituencies in the state.
Ibanga told newsmen in Uyo on Tuesday that the service would be revamped in line with modern fire fighting operations and would involve recruitment of staff and procurement of modern state of the Art Fire Fighting Equipment.
“Recently we discovered that almost all the personnel in the state Fire Service have retired leaving only small size of workforce to handle fire emergencies in the state.
“Technically, equipment in the fire service have become obsolete and need replacement to fight fire outbreak in the state.I am planning to bring resource persons for intensive training of Fire Men in the state . I would do it at appropriate time.” He said
When our Correspondent visited the state Fire Service Office in Uyo , few staff were seen working with only one functional fire truck to attend to fire emergencies in the state.
One of the staff who pleaded anonymity said many staff in the state Fire Service have retired while equipment at their disposal are not enough to tackle fire outbreak .
“It is unfortunate that almost 80 per cent of our staff here have retired and government could not recruit new ones to fill existing vacancies here.
“Even the only equipment here , we don’t have consumables to use . This consumables are chemicals such as F-F-F, Foam chemicals and other detergent needed in our operations.
“Really the state Fire Service needs total revamp in terms of manpower and equipment to meet fire emergencies.” The staff explained.
