By Stanley Onyekwere
In a bid to mitigate the incessant fire disaster in markets and other shopping facilities across major cities of the country, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) is seeking collaboration with Abuja Markets Management Ltd (AMML), in view of its reasonable adherence to fire and safety measures.
This move was disclosed by Head, Fire and Safety section of NBRRI Quantity Surveyor, Longtau Pirmak, while leading a team from the Institute on a courtesy visit to AMML.
Pirmak explained that AMML was selected as a critical stakeholder in NBRRI’s search for solution to the unending menace of market fire disaster, considering its regulatory roles in market management and the numerous markets under its control in the FCT .
According to him, NBRRI is organising a 2-day workshop on Fire Safety Management in Nigerian Markets next month, -with a view to providing pragmatic solutions to the incessant menace of fire occurrences in markets across the country.
He noted that having gone round the country to carry out fire safety audits on Nigerian markets, NBBRI felt a need to have a stakeholders meeting/ workshop, to intimate them of some of the findings and to jointly come up with steps that would mitigate against future occurrence.
Responding, the AMML’s Acting Managing Director, Arc. Ibrahim Uzaibat stated its readiness to partner with NBRRI to address the hazards of fire in markets.
Uzaibat said AMML has not recorded any major fire disaster in any its facilities, saying that this clean sheet was not entirely, due to providence but also has to do with deliberate effort at emergency preparedness and high premium placed on safety.
