Niger to Provide Fire Station in 25 LGCs
In a proactive bid to stem down the devastating effect of fire outbreak, Niger State Government is to provide functional fire fighting station in each of the 25 local govern.ent areas of the state.
The State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani-Bello disclosed this on Tuesday when he made on the spot assessment of the burnt section of the Monday Market in New Bussa in Borgu Local Government Area of the state.
Fifty four permanent locked-up shops, 15 attached shops and merchanrdise worth over N100 million were raised down to the rubbles by the inferno that gutted market on Sunday night.
The Governor who noted that fire outbreak in markets across the state has become a reoccurring incident said there is need to build fire stations in markets and Local Goverment headquarters.
“This is not the first time we are experiencing fire outbreak in markets across the state. Now it has happened in New Bussa but the most important thing is that no life was lost.
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“What we can do is to ensure that we have fire service stations in all the Local Government headquarters and we have built seven stations already. So we also have to ensure we set up one here as soon as possible so that when there is fire outbreak we can contain it before it cause more damages.”
Expressing concern about the attendant effect of fire incidence on victims, Governor Sani Bello said “government will ensure it provide support to the victims to reduce their hardship”.
The Governor who assured the victims of financial support said the State Emergency Management Agency would do a proper assessment to identify victims and look into how they would be compensated .
He however called on the market committee to redesign the market system and ensure that highly inflamable products are are kept in a specific area in the market, ensure they monitor market activities and ensure that each shop had a fire extinguisher so as to enable them address such occurances.
Governor Sani-Bello further stated that the state government would liaise with the local government council to see to how they can support and rebuild the market.
The Director General, Niger State Emergency Management Agency, (NSEMA) Alh. Ahmed Ibrahim Inga disclosed that 54 permanent shops and 15 attached shops were affected. Adding that property worth over N100 million were lost
Jibrin Baba Ndace
Chief Press Secretary
27 February 2019
