The Federal Government is planning to procure an aircraft in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country to fight wildfires, bushfires, and other large-scale fires, the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola has said.

Aregbesola said this at the commissioning of the Metropolitan Fire Station, Kubwa, Abuja on Tuesday.

The Minister said: “The prime challenge of the Federal Fire Service FFS is on combating wildfires, bushfires and other largescale fires requiring aerial attacks.

“We have initiated an arrangement with the Nigeria Airforce to use their planes to waterbomb fires of that nature from the air. It is my sincere hope that the Service will see this through.

“Our projection is to have our own aircraft in the six geo-political zones of the country.”

Aregbesola explained that the Metro Fire Station is positioned strategically in the suburban Kubwa District for rapid fire and rescue interventions to the community in a much shorter life-saving time.

He said: “One can almost be sure of a rise in the awareness level of people in the community of fire protection and prevention through fire safety enlightenment campaigns that would be on the steady in and around the axis.

“This beautiful edifice housing the Metropolitan Fire Station is the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria. We have all gathered here today to commission one of the 13 Metropolitan Stations spread across the country and at various stages of completion,” he said.

Aregbesola had earlier in the day while commissioning the Fire House at the National Fire Academy Sheda, Abuja, said it is the heart and soul of the fire academy.

The Minister noted that the Fire House was one of the legacy projects of the current administration, insisting that the Federal Government’s investment in FFS under the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was more than what has been invested in the agency since its creation in 1901.

He said: “It will be right to say that attention and resources devoted by the current Administration to the Federal Fire Service since 2015 is more than whatever has been put into it since its establishment in 1901.

“As a matter of fact, some of the milestones achieved in the Federal Fire Service are evidence of President Muhammadu Buhari’s unbending determination to fight insecurity by protecting lives and property from fire and other hazards.”