By Tobias Lengnan Dapam
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo said the reconstructed National Fire Academy (NFA) will be ready in May, 2026.
The minister stated this on Friday in Abuja, after inspecting the ongoing construction at the academy in Sheda, suburb in the Federal Capital Territory.
He said in his determination to establish a world-class fire academy, the current project which is about 65 percent is occupying about 10 hectares of land.
“The consultants said we are at 70 per cent but for me I will say we are at about 65 per cent with what I have seen and we have been given assurances that by May the project will be delivered.”
He further disclosed that plans are ongoing to acquire an additional 13 hectares for the establishment of a paramilitary institute for officers and men from all the agencies under the ministry.
“ What we have here is a fire academy but we have just gotten 13 hectares extra to serve as an institute for professionalism and career development for our paramilitary officers.
“ The paramilitary institute is another phase and so what we are trying to do, is to integrate everything together and be able to create professionalism within our services,” he said.
He added that the academy facilities will empower youths and also serve as a means for persons from private sector to be trained.
“This academy provides us that opportunity not just to train the officers of the FFS but to also train private sector people.
“This will also reduce the capital flights we have been experiencing where people travel abroad to train themselves on rescue management and services.
“We believe that this is a huge one for Mr President because capacity building is key and we understand that in this era, fire is not just about fire but emergency response,” he said.
On his part, FFS Controller-General, Samuel Olumode said that the fire academy will aid in enhancing Service delivery across the country.
He said the academy has the capacity to accommodate 3,000 participants at once.
“This fire academy will have a firehouse at which we don’t have such in West Africa, where you can carry out search and rescue.
“With the help of the minister, we have enough human resources. when you talk of human capacity, we have enough to man these resources”.
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