It was Leon Batista Alberti who once said, “A man can do all things if he but wills them”. There is also a saying that some were born great, some have greatness thrust upon them”. Engr. Garba Joseph Anebi was born great and that is the way that the Federal Fire Service under his able leadership as the Comptroller General has been repositioned and placed on the pedestal for growth. There is a wind of change currently blowing at the federal fire service from the old to the new order of doing things where staff salaries, allowances, human capacity development and the welfare of staff have become the cardinal focus of management, where fire safety equipment’s are now available for usage, where the staff morale is very high compared to what was in the past and the espirit- de- corps amongst the officers and men is at the highest level. Indeed, there is a paradigm shift from the old order of doing things to the new, all spurred by the dynamic and energetic CG.
When Engr. Anebi took over leadership barely two years ago, he issued a stern warning to everyone that it was not going to be business as usual and he immediately drew his road map and marshaled out his template to involve a new mission, vision and statement for the federal fire service which included the upgrade of equipment, enhanced manpower development (training and re-training), punctuality to work, inter agencies intelligence sharing and dissemination and a road map for a national policy fire disaster framework, all in a bid to take the moribund infrastructure met on ground and the low morale amongst men and officers to the next level and this has been achieved within two years by re-defining the office and making the federal fire service a delight comparable with any African sub region and global acceptable standards .
The CG has also established core values of integrity, discipline and service delivery in line with the resolve to make Nigeria safe and secure against fire disaster; he has put in place new firefighting measures and management so as to curb incessant fire outbreaks and disasters and has also built intelligence fire based response system that has reduced the incidence of fire disaster across the nation with particular reference to fire safety tips for homes, prevention campaigns and improved fire control knowledge across the country, through public enlightenment, talk shows, information dissemination, and other media tiers.
Howbeit, the rapid response and improvement in fire disaster management/control has helped Nigeria to curb high incidences of fire disasters and as such, the CG is appealing to corporate organizations, individuals and public spirited Nigerians to partner and collaborate with the Federal Fire Service to bring these malaise to a full stop once and for all and to also assist the service to provide for some of its teething challenges as government alone cannot provide all the needful.
Consequently, Anebi’s leadership style and more importantly, his open door policy, remarkable and selfless campaigns on risk assessment and general disaster management including his nationalistic disposition to tackle these menace head-on, raising the stakes in the battle against firefighting, mitigation, thus averting many fire disasters in homes and offices across the country has been applauded by well-meaning Nigerians. Not leaving out his avowed determination and commitment to rid the entire country of fire emergencies and disasters has also attracted commendations of all and sundry.
He has re-enacted the federal fire summit tagged Fire Service National Conference in Kano with the theme; The menace of market fire in Nigeria, which was just concluded last week with other stakeholders on the way forward to reduce the incidence of emergency and disasters in our markets. Happily, a lot of policy statements and national fire policy framework have been discussed including challenges and solutions proffered on the way forward and the issuing of a communiqué on a joint effort to prevent fire disasters across the country and in market places also. The forum also brought like minds and stakeholders together to improve on existing policies so as to ensure maximum and efficient service delivery to the public.
The Honourable Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazua, has given the CG all necessary support and assistance needed to lead by example and take the fire service to greater heights. In fact, the Hon. Minister’s model market specification is driven by the federal fire service, an initiative where the states are required to build, equip and provide FFS personnel, market fire stations aimed at curbing incessant fire outbreaks in our markets, enjoining states saddled with safety matters to adopt this model.
Nevertheless within two years in office, as a key asset in this administration’s fight against fire disaster, he has modernized, repositioned and revolutionized the federal fire service for professionalism and effective service delivery in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s change agenda through holistic, dynamic and innovative policy framework based on intelligent and aggressive fire prevention campaigns, infrastructure upgrading and the expansion of critical requirements and enhanced collaboration with sister agencies to compete favourably in the west African sub region.
With the unwavering support of the Hon. Minister of interior, management and staff, he has set up policy regulating units in all the six area councils in the FCT, the establishment of zonal offices and state offices in addition to existing zonal offices with the aim of ensuring and bringing the fire services to the door steps of the public vis-à-vis the grassroots.
These zonal and state offices are in Benue, Niger, Adamawa and Kaduna respectively. As a result of continuous training and re-training, 100 personnel from each of the 36 states have been trained on how to handle fire service equipment and curtail fire outbreaks during the dry season. These new developments have also led to the procurement of modern fire service fighting equipment to meet with acceptable global standards which will be arriving the country in due course.
Due to his transforming policy direction in the fire service, the standardization of the fire and rescue equipment including the National Fire Academy (NFA) and the other training centres have been upgraded to meet with the new challenges of firefighting and prevention across the sub region. Nigerians are encouraged to come all out, support and join hands with the management to reinvigorate the firefighting mechanisms put in place by the new leadership of Engr. Anebi due to its strategic importance to the socio-economic development of our nation.
Just recently, the Coalition of Civil Societies and Media Executives for Good Governance (COCMEGG) bestowed on the selfless CG, “The Most Distinguished Fire Safety Officer Of The Millennium” for his avowed determination to change the moribund service to a robust organization that can compete globally.
Written by Omoba Kenneth Aigbegbele, of Citizens Watch Nigeria (CWN)
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