FULafia, Federal Fire Service work to prevent inferno
|By Musa Ishaq & Yahaya Ahmed
The Federal University of Lafia (FULafia) and Federal Fire Service have initiated sound and effective measures to prevent fire outbreak, and, in the event of its occurrence, mitigate damage.
To this end, the Vice-Chancellor of FULafia, Prof. Shehu Abdul Rahman, has praised the partnership between the University and Federal Fire Service, Nasarawa State Command, saying that it could not have come at a better time than now.
He disclosed that among the ingredients of the partnership is training of FULafia staff for quick response to emergencies to ensure safety of students and staff.
The vice-chancellor stated this when the delegation of the Federal Fire Service, led by the Nasarawa State Commander, DCF Favour A. Garba, paid him a familiarisation visit in his office at Lafia. Abdul Rahman, while thanking the newly posted commander for the visit, requested the commander to deploy her personnel to the University to train and retrain staff on fire management and prevention.
Describing the visit as timely, the vice-chancellor explained that “if people are not aware that safety measures have been put in place to handle emergencies, the environment will not be conducive for teaching and learning.”
He said that “safety of our students and staff is a paramount priority of my administration.”
The vice-chancellor assured the commander that the University would work with her recommendations to compliment its efforts of protecting lives and properties.
Earlier, in her remarks, the commander, Favour A. Garba, said the purpose of her visit was to familiarise herself with the University community and exchange pleasantries with the vice-chancellor. Garba, who took over from Sunday Agbadu, about three months ago, said she deemed it necessary to visit federal ministries, organisations and agencies in the state to notify them of the leadership change at the state command of the Federal Fire Service and inspect fire fighting equipment in their premises to make sure they are in good shape.
The commander stated that on her assumption of office, she realised that the University had an agreement with the fire service on the need to have a fire station in the University, adding: “The University is a large compound, it will be good to have a fire station in the University campus so that response to emergencies will be prompt.”
Garba, while donating a fire extinguisher to the University, appealed to the vice-chancellor to create an emergency fire service station to enable prompt response to fire incidence. She said that when the station is created, “I will deploy my officers to man the station.”
Among the officers that accompanied the Garba to the vice-chancellor’s office were Sunday O. Agbadu, Sunday Ameh, Emmanuel Anyebe, Danjuma Ogbole, Lamino Yahuza and Bulus Audu.
