The FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), on Wednesday in Abuja called for the establishment of a Security Commission to regulate gas station activities.
According to him, the initiative is aimed at preventing the outbreak of fire in the area.
The Director General of the agency, Alhaji Abbas Idriss, made the call while briefing journalists on the organization’s activities in 2022 and plans for 2023.
Idris noted that most gas stations and shops in the nation’s capital do not have trained staff who serve customers professionally when filling their cylinders.
“Every gas station should have protective equipment that customers can use in the vicinity to protect themselves.
“The gas station at the gas station is supposed to have a wall demarcating it from the filling station, but that’s not the case.
“So, if we should have a security commission set up by the FCT Administration to ensure that they train the station workers and make sure that they do it right.
“If not, we will continue to have fire explosions that will cause a lot of harvoc in the FCT and we have written to the administration to propose the establishment of a safety commission,” he said.
The DG said the agency has finalized a plan to introduce Emergency Marshals to work in different communities in the six Area Councils to prevent danger.
This, he said, was a move that was said to help overcome the negative effects of the rapidly growing population in the nation’s capital.
Idriss disclosed that the agency has carried out hazard mapping in Abuja, identifying areas that require urgent attention.
He explained that the decision to introduce the Emergency Marshal was based on the need to improve Idriss said; saving intervention and also reducing danger.
According to him, the Marshal will complement the efforts of volunteers who play an important role in the agency’s activities.
Idriss said: “We are going to introduce emergency Marshals this year. These are volunteers who help students, hospital workers, the disabled, and the general public in times of emergency.
“They also assist facility services, Risk Management and Security Services by reporting conditions in the building that may pose a danger during an emergency.
“They also maintain an orderly evacuation; conduct a sweep of the area to ensure that the evacuation is complete.”
He also stated that Marshals are expected to participate in debriefings resulting from the evacuation and complete a monthly checklist for fire safety issues in the area.
“The FCT has become the standard of flood control in the country. This is due to the drastic reduction in the impact of floods.
“We attribute this development to early warning and great sensitization on what to do before the rains,
during rain and after rain.
“We have also issued early warnings in line with the impact-based seasonal climate predictions by NIMET, and the annual flood outlook published by the Nigerian Hydrological Agency,” he said.
Idriss also said that by 2022, FEMA will respond to 42 emergency calls on 112 emergency toll-free numbers.
“This shows the red marked for
2021 where we had 173 distress calls, I would like to attribute this reduction to the great sensitization of citizens.
“In 2022, 270 lives were saved from various flood incidents received from 16 emergency calls.
through the emergency toll-free number 112,” he said.
The DG assured FCT residents of the agency’s commitment to protecting lives and property after reducing the response time from five minutes to three minutes.