‘Nigeria loses N50bn to fire annually’

The Federal Fire Service has estimated that the nation loses about N50bn to fire annually.
Controller-General of Federal Fire Service, Olusegun Okebiorun, who said this in Abuja on Saturday at a briefing to commemorate the 2013 International Fire Service Day, added that 1,000 persons died in 2012 as a result of fire.
Of this number, he noted that 11 of them were firefighters.
Okebiorun, who blamed the disaster on negligence, urged the governments, especially at the local government level to take fire service issue as a priority by maintaining, at least, one fire station.
He said, “Nigeria loses about N50bn annually to fire and it is therefore important that we take the issue of fire outbreaks seriously. Last year alone, no fewer than 1,000 people lost their lives while 11 of my men also died in the line of duty.”
PUNCH