The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Service

  • Niger Insurance assures of efficient services

    Policyholders of Niger Insurance PLC have been assured of full compensation should the need arise.

    In a statement, its Managing Director Mr Kola Adedeji, stated that the firm’s primary business is to satisfy its customers.

    Adedeji, who acknowledged that the level of disposable income in the country was low, pointed out that with the population of the country in excess of 160 million, there exists huge insurance potential.

    He stressed the company’s resolve to ensure prompt payment of benefits to policyholders, the reason for opening a dedicated account for claims and commission payment to prevent undue delays in claims administration and settlement.

    He said the underwriting company was being reengineered for better services and more innovative products, which would better meet the needs of the insuring public and endear insurance to them.

    He noted that though the organisation has ensured that its customers were properly catered for, it focuses more on the need for customers to know their specific needs, meet those needs and surpass clients’ expectation.

    He said: “The company is striving to ensure that more members of the public embraced insurance culture while concerted efforts are being made to enlighten them so they would know what they stand to benefit by patronising the insurance industry.

    “A building was devoted to the agency operations of the company so that people can have access to insurance products and services offered by the insurance firm wherever they might be in the country.”

     

    In order to ensure financial stability and exude confidence in its services to customers, the firm has also put in place reinsurance treaties with local and foreign reinsurance companies led by Swiss Re, he said.

    Established in 1962, Niger Insurance is fully computerised with the most advanced software technology, the statement added.

  • Paul to Saul: all in his master’s service

    The Bible tells the story of Saul turning into Paul on the way to Damascus, after encountering God.  Could there be an evolving Nigerian story of a Paul turning Saul, somewhere between Owo and Ife, after an encounter with mammon?  I just wonder!

    This musing came after reading “South-West: Lest we forget regional integration”, a piece by Bola Bolawole, in his “Turning Point” column on the back page of the Wednesday May 22 issue of Daily Newswatch.

    Normally, it is trite in logic that leaving the message to attack the messenger is bad writing and bad thinking culture.  Indeed, that fallacy is called ad hominem.   In this case however, engaging the writer, in the context of his writing, is both logical and legitimate, since he ab initio, smuggled himself into the write-up in a most supine, abject and illogical manner, that suggests his readers must be fools.

    Wrote he: “In Osun State, I wish Governor Rauf Aregbesola would not be returned for second term but that PDP would take over the state in next year’s election.”

    To start with, that was absolutely presumptuous and without rigour.  As far as I know, democratic choices are past the realm of wishes.  If wishes were horses, goes the saying, every fool would ride – and perhaps break his neck!  Democratic elections are made of more rigorous stuff – at least they should be, since man is supposed to be a rational and pain-avoiding animal.  So, on what account might Governor Aregbesola lose the next election, when in two years he has done more than Olagunsoye Oyinlola and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) power scavengers did in almost eight years?

    Not so long ago, Bolawole had in his column in the Nigerian Tribune, rubbed in the sand the nose of Iyiola Omisore – he of the sinister scowl, violent politics and push-and-mug mentality.  He claimed Omisore had so many questions to answer and that he would have nothing to do with him.

    Barely months after, however, he was inviting fellow journalists, particularly seasoned columnists whose voice have influence, to come have close tete-a-tete with Omisore who claimed he had acquired some PhD on some newfangled area – and needed right thinking members of the society to help validate his claim.  Bolawole probably succeeded with some.  But he gloriously failed with not a few; and for his and continuing impiety, his principal remains a pariah to decent and respectable society.

    So, why might an Owo native that Bolawole is, be so obsessed with a governor from a neighbouring state losing an election; and a PDP, that had, beyond any reasonable doubt, proved its incompetence and uselessness, win?  Apparently between Owo and Ife, a former Paul of the Nigerian media, bristling with propriety, decency and justice, had turned to a Saul, in the service of the pig-and-muck manor of Omisore, the decency-challenged enforcer nursing the delusion of being governor.

    Well, Bolawole has a right to pick his camp.  He also has the right to ally with God or with mammon. But he does not have the right to unleash blatant presumption on readers, hiding behind South West integration, and making outlandish claims against Governor Aregbesola who, by the dint of focus, commitment and hard work, would continue to be the nemesis of Omisore and his Osun PDP freeloaders, even with their illicit and so-called federal might.

    Bolawole opened his piece with a fallacy: because Labour Party won the Ondo gubernatorial election, the battle for the soul of the South West was lost and won!  That might be fine logic in the Omisore rigour-challenged political pepper soup joints.  But it is clearly asinine in cultivated circles.

    To follow the Omisore tradition of extreme contempt for readers, Bolawole went on to inflict another blatant lie: since the loss of Ondo election in which the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) made South West integration a campaign issue, and of which Aregbesola was prime driver, nothing had been heard of the project again.

    Yet, at a four-day South West Expo: Grassroots Business and Investment Forum 2013, from February 6 to 9, an event to practicalise South West integration organised by The Nation newspaper and Ceedee consultants, and hosted by the State of Osun in Osogbo, newspapers widely reported Aregbesola’s personal invitation to Governor Olusegun Mimiko to join his brother governors on the South West integration project.  He added that since election was over, it was time to join hands to develop the region.   Prince Bola Ajibola and Dr. Omololu Olunloyo and other distinguished guests from this clime graciously attended the event.

    Besides, participants after the event agreed on a 17-point resolution, Number 4 of which declared: “Ondo State should, as of right, take its place in South West integration programmes and activities.”  Indeed, Dipo Famakinwa, director-general of the DAWN Commission, the policy implementing arm of South West integration, with its headquarters at Cocoa House, Ibadan, was even one of the resource persons who delivered papers at that event.

    So, where comes Bolawole’s yarn that nothing had been heard of the project since the Ondo election; or that Aregbesola, in Bolawole’s view, “the acclaimed coordinator of regional integration for ACN … has not said a word about regional integration since his party lost in Ondo”? It is of course the empty gas that comes from the Omisore sinister house of push-and-shove politics.

    That brings the matter to Bolawole’s reasons for his “wish” that Aregbesola lose the coming election: that the governor played politics with everything – religion, education and regional integration.

    From this piece so far, it is clear that Aregbesola playing politics with regional integration is a fiction of the jaundiced imagination of those whose stock-in-trade is emotive blackmail, not reasoned discourse.  As for playing politics on education, if scaling up educational infrastructure in terms of new school buildings, Opon Imo, the computer tablet for senior secondary school pupils, free school uniforms that also provides jobs for local tailors and designer, and free meals for junior pupils are politics, I think the Osun people would have been glad Omisore and his exuberant party played such politics when they were in power for almost eight years of stolen mandate!

    As for Bolawole’s charge on politicking with religion, it is a classic example of giving a dog a bad name to hang it.  But any right-thinking person knows that Aregbesola’s religious policy is based on equal access, equal opportunity and fairness.  Even the Hijab issue epitomises just that; and the access to traditional believers even more epitomises this equal access and equal opportunity policy, which is however beyond the ken of irrational rabble rousers, whose forte is stark ignorance.

    The good thing though is that our people have left that Egypt of ignorance and are cruising toward the Promised Land of development and prosperity under the charge of Aregbesola. Not a billion Omisores and his misguided chorus singers and court jesters can stop that.

  • Airtel introduces Bid & Get service

    The telecoms market is set to witness another major breakthrough in service delivery for consumers as Airtel Nigeria introduces the first-ever bidding service in Nigeria tagged Bid and Get .

    The service is a direct reverse of the traditional concept of auction, where the highest bidder is declared a winner.

    With Airtel Bid and Get, a customer whose bid is the lowest and unique automatically, wins the bid for the advertised item for the day. The winner can purchase the item for N100 only irrespective of the retail price of the item.

    To register for Airtel Bid and Get, customers are to send the word “BID’ to the short code 3210 free of charge, and thereafter participate in the bid by sending their bid amount to the 3210, at N10 for every bid SMS.

    The customer, whose bid is the lowest and is unique at the end of the bidding cycle, is declared the successful bidder and would be eligible to buy the product for N100.

    On receiving SMS, informing a participant of winning a particular bid auction, the successful bidder is to send the word “WIN” to “3211” and, thereafter, would be presented with his winning at the nearest Airtel office.

     

     

     

     

  • NCC queries GSM firms for poor service

    NCC queries GSM firms for poor service

    ALL trunks are busy; please try again later.” “Your call cannot be completed now; please try again later.” “The number you have dialled is incorrect; please check the number and dial again.”

    Mobile telephone service quality has hit an all-time low. Not only subscribers are worried; the regulators are also disturbed.

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NNC) has written to all the network operators to explain why service quality has suddenly crashed.

    NCC spokesman Tony Ojobo told The Nation yesterday that the commission had been inundated with complaints over the sudden decline in service quality.

    The operators are expected to explain why the situation has gone so bad. The regulator will deploy its engineers to test the facilities of the operators to see if they meet the key performance indicators (KPIs) they signed.

    “We have observed that the service quality has gone down again. We have received complaints from subscribers who said they have tried to do one thing or the other on the networks, which was futile. Based on these complaints, NCC has asked the operators to explain why the situation is so. We are not stopping at that; we are also deploying our engineers to test their (operators’) facilities,” Ojobo said.

    The NCC recently lifted its ban on all promos and lotteries that ride on the network. Sector analysts say the decline in the quality of service may not be unconnected with the lifting of the promos and lotteries.

    National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) President, Deolu Ogunbanjo, said the NCC ought not to have lifted the ban because doing so has unwittingly led to congestion on the networks.

    “Our members have complained bitterly about the anguish they go through in the hands of their service providers. They spend their hard-earned money to buy airtime for which they hardly get the full value. We have written to the NCC. We feel strongly that lifting the ban on promos and lotteries is responsible for the congestion on the network,” he said in a telephone interview.

    Ogunbanjo said the body had petitioned the NCC, asking for compensation for the subscribers and warning that should the regulator fail to do this by the end of this month, the group would have no choice but to go to court. “We have appealed to the NCC to compensate our members. If it fails to do so by the end of this month, we will be forced to seek legal solution to the problem of our members. We are going to write another letter to them (NCC),” he said.

    Ojobo said the NCC is also looking at the network to see if it is the decision to lift the ban that has caused disruption in services. We lifted the ban on promos and we have being looking at it to establish whether it has any impact on the network. We are studying all that,” he said.

    Many subscribers have been complaining about poor service quality. It is either they can’t get to load their airtime or make calls.

  • Long road to quality service

    Long road to quality service

    It is an agony subscribers go through almost daily. They dial and dial without success. When they eventually get through, they can hardly make clear conversations. The line is full of static, making conversation difficult. This is the kind of service subscribers have been putting up with since the coming of the global system of communication in 2001. LUCAS AJANAKU writes.

     

    George Edet, a 37-year-old petroleum engineer, had a bitter experience recently with his mobile telephone service provider. He had bought a N1000 recharge card. After several futile attempts, he finally succeeded in loading the air time. After scaling that, he was faced with another hurdle, making calls to his family in Akwa Ibom State. “I needed to talk to my mummy in Uyo, concerning final plans for my wedding. My fiancee and I had earlier met with the head, Marriage Counselling Unit of our church the previous day and we had been advised to cut down some of the frivolous items on the list sent by the family of my fiancee. Mummy already had a copy, which she was going to act upon. So, I needed to stop her. But all my efforts were futile. It was either my service provider said: “The number you have dialled is incorrect, check the number and dial again” or it simply said: “The number you have called is not assigned to any customer,” Edet lamented.

    For Richard Adeyeye, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Richbrands Limited, his problem was that he had to contend with incessant drop calls. A resident of New London in Baruwa, a Lagos suburb, each time his phone rings, he is reluctant to pick the call because he is sure that the conversation will snap in less than one minute after picking the call.

    “The quality of service has become so worrisome. Given of the nature of my business, I depend on my mobile phone to get across to my clients. But my experience has been most unpalatable. When a call comes in and I pick it, no sooner had the conversation begun than it snaps. When I also make a call, after the initial ‘hello’ that precedes conversation, the other person stops hearing what I am saying or I stop hearing what he is saying. This has compelled me to have three mobile phones,” Adeyeye lamented.

    In this era of universal licences, which allow operators to also do data services on their networks, it is not only voice calls that are affected by low quality of service, data is also affected as subscribers rarely get the speed and bandwidth promised by the service providers. Most times, the subscriber who has already signed up to either a monthly or weekly data bundle plan hardly enjoys it. Since it is mostly prepaid, whatever happens to the subscriber after payment becomes his/her burden, even when it is due to the operator’s inefficiency.

    These are just some of the pains the 113 million telephone subscribers in Nigeria pass through daily as they try to connect to business associates, family members, friends and even call for help in times of difficulty.

    A former Minister of State for Communications, Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, aptly captured the feelings of subscribers when he said: “The spate at which the challenge of quality is going is becoming fraudulent. Calls are generated, but not finished and charges are made. We will no longer allow the challenge of the power sector as an excuse.”

    Stakeholders in the telecoms sector, argue that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which is the regulator, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON),the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) all agree that the level of services in the sector leaves much to be desired.

    But while the operators, comprising the global system for mobile (GSM) communication operators – Airtel, MTN, Globacom and Etisalat, with their counterpart in the Code Division Multpile Access (CDMA) sector, Starcomms and Visafone, have consistently blamed factors, such as vandalism, theft of generators at mobile phone Base Transmission Stations (BTS), extortion by officials of the three tiers of government, bureaucratic bottleneck in acquring approval to build BTS and the protracted issue of the grant of Right-of-Way (RoW), the regulator and the subscribers have insisted that what is required are the networks of the burdens of promotions and lotteries and massive investment in infrastructure, especially BTS, to make the networks more resilient.

    Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NCC, said operators would need to invest massively on bakchaul infrastructure. According to him, it is the absence of this that is responsible for the low quality of telecoms services in the country.

    He said the telecoms facilities were grossly inadequate to cope with the increasing demand since the subscribers could make more calls as a result of lower tarriffs.

    “The subscribers demanded that the prices should come down and NCC did not force prices down. I have always said competition will force price to come down.

    “So, having forced down prices, more people are making calls. The demand on the network has been increased. So, people get drop calls in one way or the other because of congestion. It can only be solved by extra investment in the network. It is not an overnight issue. You cannot improve quality of service without investing more in the network. You have to build new base stations. You have to build new transmission facilities to carry calls. You have to also build new switching centres,” he insisted.

    Deolu Ogunbanjo, president, NATCOMS, agreed with the Juwah. According to him, promotions and lotteries designed to acquire more customers unwittingly congest the networks and compromise service quality. He therefore advised the regulator not to rescind its decision banning promos and lotteries on the network since the ban has not even translated to any appreciable stability in service quality.

    Ogunbanjo said operators must keep building network infrastructure. He also wants the NCC to stop issuing new subscriber identity module (SIM) number range, arguing that the SIM number range already in circulation has not been exhausted by the operators.

    Chief Executive Officer, Teledon Group, Emmanuel Ekuwem, also agreed with the infrastructure deficit issue. He said the operators were not ‘ploughing back’ enough of the gains they make in the country to grow the network. “The problem is lack of capacity. The operators should invest in building additional capacity,” Ekuwem, who is also past president, ATCON, suggested.

    The Chief Operating Officer, Phase3 Telecom (a telecom infrastructure firm),Olusola Teniola, said the number of BTS in the country was inadequate to meet the demands of subscribers. He called for investment in providing infrastructure rollout, adding that the Federal Government support was vital to achieve high quality services in the sector.

    ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, who argued that the service quality woes were not the fault of the operators agreed no less with the others. According to him, if telecoms companies are to meet the service quality mandates of the regulator, operators will have to deploy additional 50, 000 BTS across the country.

    Nigeria is a huge country in terms of population and total land mass. With a population estimated at 167 million and subscribers’ base standing at 113 million, it is certainly not realistic that about 18 BTS will support the telecoms sector.

    According to the 2011 census, the total population of the United Kingdom (UK) is around 63,182,000 while there were approximately 52,500 mobile phone base station sites in the UK at the end of 2011.

    Adebayo said there were a little over 20,000 BTS sites in Nigeria serving a population of over 150 million people as at the end of year 2011.

    “In comparison, there were approximately 55,000 BTS sites in the UK at the end of 2011 serving a population of just over 60 million people. The latter figure could rise in years to come,” he said.

    Adebayo, whose opinion is fairly representative of that of the operators, lamented that efforts by operators to invest in BTS rollouts to ensure improved service quality is being frustrated by agencies of federal, state and local governments.

    He said one of the factors impeding quick rollout of BTS, which was critical to quality telecoms services, was the delay by the relevant authorities in approving the site building proposals for the operators, thus preventing them from achieving the number of BTS the country needed to guarantee better service.

    “Multiple taxation and regulation by myriad of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal, State and Local Governments increase considerably the lead time to roll out and costs of deploying such infrastructure.

    “Theft, vandalism and sabotage of network equipment, etc impede our capacity to carry out timely equipment upgrades contributing to protracted site deployment timelines,” he said.

    Mrs Omobola Johnson, Communications Technology minister, is not happy about the unending issues with telecoms service quality in the country. She said the Federal Government was working with the relevant agencies to ensure that certain bottlenecks militating against roll out of infrastructure were tackled.

    Corporate Services Executive, MTN, Akinwale Goodluck, confirmed that given the economic situation in the country, building a base station would cost a telecoms firm about $200,000.

    “In the reality, an operator will invest an average of $200,000 and $250,000 to build a base station, depending on the terrain,” he said.

    Etisalat Nigeria CEO, Steven Evans, also confirmed the huge cost of building a BTS.

    “The cost of building base stations from the time you secure the land where you want to install the BTS and the time it goes live is around $250,000,” he said.

    Goodluck, who is also the Vice Chairman, ALTON, said the BTS lost by the operators to the raft of senseless bombings and floodings also took a toll on service quality.While the operators have succeeded in restoring some of the BTS lost to flooding, the same could not be said of those lost to bombings in the Northeast part of the country.

    Airtel CEO, Segun Ogunsanya, corroborates this. According to him, Airtel has restored all the BTS lost to flooding in the Niger Delta while the volatile security situation in parts of the north has made it impossible to deploy engineers to the area for any restoration effort.

    The customer, it is often said, is king. Operators must, therefore, rise up to the occasion and offer seamless, hitch-free telecoms services to the subscribers.

     

  • Service in humility

    Life they say, is a stage; one on which actors play out their roles, scene after scene. On March 5, 2013, over 70,000 actors commenced the screenplay of a new scene on their individual lives’ stages. The scene was the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme and the actors were young male and female Nigerian graduates who were call for national service.

    The NYSC was created in 1973 by erstwhile head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, as a girdle for holding together the battered loins of a fatherland just then fresh out of the jaws of ravaging civil war. Though it has faced a number of existential challenges especially in the recent past, the scheme has resolutely grown stronger. And every year, Nigerian graduates enthusiastically answer the call for a year of service starting with a three-week long orientation programme.

    As camp opened in the Ede, Osun State from where this writer penned this piece, complaints abound. The sun was scorching, the queues endless, the kits were inadequate and the food insufficient; the parade was inhuman, the soldiers overbearing and it goes on and on.

    Interestingly however, there were overwhelmingly more joyful faces than crying ones; there was palpable fun in the air. Living the camp life, one witnesses a number of revelations.

    The first is the smooth achievement of an egalitarian society in so short a time. In just three days, sons and daughters of the high and mighty, the lower class as well as the middleclass were integrated into one brotherhood where everybody is one. For a country as socially stratified as Nigeria, the achievement of such equality is commendable.

    The second eye-opening revelation is that soldiers are indeed human. It is needless rehashing the inherent beastly nature often attributed to officers of the Nigerian army. Corps members were, therefore, understandably wary to learn that these officers would be in charge of camp discipline. As time progressed however, their fears were dispelled.

    Soon comments like “soldier dey laugh?” and “this officer funny oo” abound. Even on the parade ground where business was the meanest, Corps members were on the receiving end of acts of camaraderie from those ‘beastly’ soldiers.

    Another revelation is the ease with which Nigerian tribal and religious factions can be integrated if good intention and the right values are brought to bear. As Corps members formed into platoons, all other affiliations were disbanded as the spirit of competition fostered unity among platoon comrades. Away from boundary disputes, religious squabbles, mineral resources and bitter memories, Nigeria truly became one.

    So it was that under the scorching sun of Ede orientation camp, and of all other camps across the nation, Corps members raised their right hands in a collective oath of allegiance to fatherland. All inhibitions and contrasting ideologies melted away as patriotism and hope burned bright. These men and women would, in the following 11 months, render service in humility to Nigeria.

  • Etihad to upgrade Lagos service

    Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will upgrade its Lagos service to a daily one to meet the growing demand from passengers travelling to and from Nigeria.

    The airline initially launched its service between Lagos, West Africa’s most populous city, and Abu Dhabi on July 1, 2012 with six flights a week, enhancing the links between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.

    The new daily service will be introduced on March 31, coinciding with the start of the airline’s new summer schedule, and will significantly improve connections between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, and beyond to key destinations across the airline’s network in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, India, Malaysia and China.

    Maurice Phohleli, Etihad Airways’ General Manager, Nigeria and West Africa, said: “We have received a very positive response from the Nigerian market since launching our service six months ago. Clearly, the people of Nigeria appreciate the superior product and service of the world’s leading airline and we are proud to serve them.

    “Our passenger loads are strong, and we are confident that this route will continue to support the growing flow of business and leisure travellers who fly from Nigeria to the United Arab Emirates and onwards over the airline’s hub in Abu Dhabi to key commercial and tourism destinations in the GCC, North and Southeast Asia and markets in the Indian sub-continent.”

    The service, comprising a mix of morning and evening departures, is operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft configured to carry 22 Pearl Business class and 240 Coral Economy class passengers.

     

  • Firm praised for selfless service

    Hajj Mabrur Ventures Limited (HMV) has been described as the best in Hajj and Umrah services.This is sequel to its performance last year.

    The encomium came from new pilgrims during the get-together organised by HMV recently. It featured presentation of certificates.

    The operator, incorporated as a limited liability company in 2001, was licensed by The Directorate of Pilgrims Affairs (DPA) now National Hajj Commission (NAHCOM) under the auspices of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to airlift Pilgrims.

    It started airlifting pilgrims from in 2002.

    One of the pilgrims, Alhaji Abdul-Wasi Adedeji praised the operator for well-packaged and spiritually-fulfilling hajj operations.

    Adedeji enjoined intending pilgrims to go with Hajj Mabrur.

    “We were given thorough spiritual enlightenment and education in terms of what the Hajj entails and we are better for it. We only urge them to ensure that in future, pilgrims do not spend more than the allotted days,” he said.

    HMV General Manager Alhaji Abdulhameed Solate said the operator is set up to assist Muslims perform their Hajj rites in the right manner as prescribed by the Prophet.

  • The fire service and public safety

    The fire service and public safety

    The Fire Service is very important for public safety, but it is sorely neglected and treated as of little consequence, by most governments in Nigeria. The principal act establishing the Federal Fire Service for instance was enacted in 1963, according to the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. However, the official web site of the Nigeria Federal Fire Service refers to a 1981 act, which is not assessable; and the Laws of the Federation did not also distinguish same. An examination of the provisions of the Act shows the lack of will by the federal government to modernize its Fire Service, despite her wish to be among the top 20 economies in 2020.

    Notably since the invasion of petro-dollars in Nigeria, there has been massive, but haphazardly coordinated expansion in economic activities across the country. This development has made fire incidents a major source of danger to public safety and property. Examples include the reoccurring fire incidents at petrol loading bays, tank farms, pipelines and other similar sources. Again most of the poorly developed market clusters across the country annually go up in flames; while fire at multi-storey buildings, petro-chemical industries and crash sites always constitutes embarrassments to our outdated fire equipments. Perhaps the future biggest challenge for our dear country will be fire induced by terrorist weaponry and activities, in industrial areas and residential places.

    The anachronistic federal fire laws, in section 35 of the Act for instance provides: “any person who unlawfully interferes with, damages, or removes any fire fighting equipment maintained by the Fire Service shall be guilty of an offence, and upon summary conviction thereof shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred naira or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both such fine and imprisonment.” While it may be correct to say that the main challenge of the Fire Service is governmental neglect, the inadequacy of the existing laws clearly shows that governments need to be prodded to modernize the Fire Service.

    Examining the neglect of the Fire Service by federal, state and local governments, any observant person who visits most fire stations in the country would shudder whether they are antique centers; since most of the fire engines are those left behind by the departed colonial masters. Indeed most of the vehicles at the fire stations are permanently demobilised, standing on stones as wheels. The fire stations usually painted in bright red colours are also inhospitable, operating without functional offices and modern telecommunication equipments. It may be shocking to note that most of these fire stations have dysfunctional public water mains, and yet water is the main instrument to fight fire.

    A further examination of the Act again shows that the Minister of Interior has extensive powers over the affairs of the Federal Fire service. This I guess must be one of the reasons for its stunted growth. The Minister’s powers as provided in section 6 of the Act include, power to provide accommodation for Fire Service, its equipments and personnel. The Minister is also empowered to provide and maintain fire alarms, and wait for this, “to employ the Fire Service or use its equipment, outside Lagos”. The Minister in section 14 also has the powers to “take all reasonable measures for ensuring the provision of an adequate supply of water, and for securing that it will be available for use.” It further grants him power “for the provision at the expense of the Fire Service of fire hydrants or other sources of the supply of water at points to be indicated by the Fire Commissioner.”

    The Minister in section 16 of the act has powers to make standing orders, after consultation with the Federal Civil Service Commission, with respect to any matter relating “to the organisation and administration of the Fire Service; to appointments to the Fire Service and to the promotion, transfer, discipline and control of members of the Fire Service; to the duties to be performed by members of the Fire Service and for their guidance in the discharge of those duties; with respect to the management and good government of fire station, training schools, recreation centers and canteens.” With the same Minister overseeing ‘more lucrative’ agencies such as the Immigration Services and until few years back, the Nigeria Customs Services, any surprise that the Fire Service was left to rot over the years, by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

    Comparatively in better managed societies, the Fire Service is treated as a very important arm of government responsible for public safety. For instance during the attack on the World Trade Center in United States, otherwise known as 9/11; Fire Service personnel were the most celebrated defenders of America’s national safety and well being. With dilapidated and aged vehicles crawling to get to fire scenes in Nigeria in times of emergency, any wonder that our fire men are treated with disdain by the benefiting public. Governments at federal, state and local levels must also realize that a well trained fire man without the necessary equipments and kits is more of a nuisance at the fire scene and also a danger to himself.

    The way forward is for federal and state governments to review their current Fire Acts, so as to establish modern Fire Services with dedicated personnel. Interestingly some states in the country are beginning to show greater interest in Fire Service. Lagos as usual is ahead on this, but needs to do more. The law should also insulate the Fire Service from the lethargic public civil service, and attract greater funding for well trained manpower, equipments, logistics and welfare for firemen. Expecting our firemen to effectively fight fires, without adequate equipments and personal protective kits is dubious.

     

  • Few Kano Christians attend New Year service

    THE New Year celebration was low-key for Kano Christians.

    Only a few of them attended the first church that ushered in the New Year because of the security challenge in the country.

    More security operatives were drafted to parts of the state, especially churches, to ensure the security of life and property.

    There were more rigorous checks of vehicles by security operatives in Kano city yesterday than before.

    Checks at some churches around the state capital showed that most seats were empty because many worshippers stayed away.

    The traditional merriment that used to accompany New Year celebrations were missing yesterday.

    Those who attended church service hurriedly retired into their homes instead of celebrating openly with families, friends and others.

    Many Christians used to take their families and friends to eateries, restaurants and other fun spots to celebrate the New Year.

    But such pastimes were not as pronounced yesterday as they used to be.