Fire: 724 Lives, N1.6tn Property Saved In 5 Months, Says FG

…Federal Roads Get Another N115.5bn, N5bn For Zungeru-Wushishi Water Project

A total of 724 lives and property worth N1.6trillion were saved from fire between June and October 2019, the Federal Government disclosed on Wednesday.

The rescue was done from 2,615 fire calls, which the  Federal Fire Service responded to within the period.

The disclosure was made by the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, who spoke with State House Correspondents after Wednesday’s virtual Federal Executive Council meeting. 

The session was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja.

“In their (fire service) intervention, they have prevented destruction of assets worth N1. 629tn between June and October 2019, while saving 724 lives and responded to 2,215 fire calls”, the former Governor of Osun State, said.

Aregbesola spoke just as his counterpart in the Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, told reporters that FEC approved over N115.5 billion for road repairs across the country.

Citing some of the roads, the former Governor of Lagos State, said, “They are the award of the Jebi-Lamba-Bele Road in Adamawa State for N26.829bn; Achingali-Udobi-Udona-Umuwana-Ubakala Road, including the bridge, across the Imo River in Imo State, for the sum of N11.540bn; and the Jarmai-Bashar-Zuruk-Karim Lamido Road, linking Plateau and Taraba States, in the sum of N77.279 bn.”

The minister explained that some of the roads would play vital roles in the country’s economic recovery plans by reducing travel hours.

“For example, the road that links Plateau and Taraba states, when completed along with the Ibi Bridge, will reduce the journey time from Abuja to Jalingo in Taraba from about 12 hours to about eight hours.

“It will be a significant reduction in journey time and also the other roads will be equally beneficial in bringing down the cost of goods, cost of transportation and the cost of doing business”, Fashola added.

Another approval made by FEC on Wednesday was the revised estimated total cost for the completion of the Zungeru-Wushishi Water Supply Project in Niger State in the sum of N5.021bn. This raised the contract value from N1.93bn to N6.9bn, tax inclusive, according to the Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu.

The minister gave some background to the project,  “This is a project that was started in 1998 by Niger State Government. They couldn’t continue. Eventually, it was transferred to federal government.

“In 2012, there was an effort to revive the project. That was when it was revised from N889million to N1.9bn. Bu,  after the work started and attained about 30 per cent completion, funding stopped.

“So, after coming into office, we did some auditing of the projects inherited in 2015. And we accorded this project medium priority. Now that we have almost all our high priority projects in the ministry approaching completion, especially water supply side, we decided to bring this project forward.

“Of course, one of the reasons the cost had to be revised was because the design as of 1998 was for one million gallon per day water treatment system. Then, from 1998 to 2020 today, definitely, if you apply our growth rate, you will know that the scheme as was then designed was no longer feasible for the two-twin towns of Zungeru and Wushishi.

“Zungeru in particular is of varied interest to us because it is one of the most historical cities in the country, being the first colonial capital of Northern Nigeria and the birthplace of the first President-General, the late Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, and with all the infrastructure around it – Shiroro Dam, Jebba, and River Niger.

“For such an historical town to be in the 21st century and cannot boast of adequate water supply, we think it is not something we can wish away.”