ABUJA/Nigeria: Liberia has requested the assistance of Nigerian Federal Fire Service (FFS) toward repositioning her National Fire Service.
Mrs Ugo Huan, spokesperson of the Nigerian FFS, in a statement in Abuja on Saturday, quoted Liberian Fire Service Chief, Col. Alex Dickson, as making the request during a courtesy visit to FFS Controller-General, Dr Ibrahim Liman.
She quoted Dickson as saying that his visit was also to seek collaboration between the two nations’ fire services.
He appealed for the support of Nigeria FFS in the area of capacity building, and expressed satisfaction with facilities and infrastructures at the FFS headquarters in Abuja.
Dickson said that his country was still recovering from years of violent conflicts and had a lot to learn from Nigeria.
“We have a lot to learn in the area of repositioning our fire department, especially with regards to administrative structure and rapid transformation.
“It is encouraging that the Nigerian Federal Service has been able to transform from a moribund Fire Service to one of the best in Africa within a very short time,” he said.
Responding, Liman said that Nigeria was willing to provide the necessary support required to revamp the Liberian Fire Service.
He stated that collaboration would be routed through the FFS parent ministry, the Federal Ministry of Interior, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Liman also said that between 2015 and now, the FFS had transformed from a service with three firefighting trucks to a service having over 150 modern firefighting trucks.
“The service has also increased its staff strength to over 5,000 firefighters and developed a template for a robust capacity building for its officers and men leading to successful training locally and internationally,” he said.
Liberia is the second country seeking Nigeria’s support to reposition its fire service after DR Congo made a similar request recently.
