Building: FCT Fire Service gives 3 Months Ultimatum for Risk Assessment Compliance
The Federal Fire Service on Wednesday in Abuja gave three months ultimatum to defaulters of its building fire risk assessment to comply or face sanction.
The Assistant Controller-General, Mr. Quintus Azogu, Head, Policy Regulation, and Inspectorate, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
Azogu said buildings that had been discovered to have gaps had been given three months to effect correction, adding that non-compliance would attract enforcement.
He said the National Fire Safety Code prescribes sanctions running up to one-year imprisonment, N 500,000 or even both depending on the magnitude of the infractions.
Azogu said the agency had sent out officers to check the fire safety status of buildings in the FCT.
“We go to buildings to check their fire safety status in terms of pathways for fire evacuation, what they have for fire suppression and what they have in terms of an alarm system,” he said.
He also said that because all buildings were not the same, those in residential buildings were advised to carry out fire safety precautions.
Azogu advised residents of small apartments to always switch off all electrical appliances when leaving the house.
He also urged them to make sure there were means of suppressing fire when there was an outbreak.
The spokesman said that residents of public buildings must install gadgets that would warn them during fire outbreaks and inscriptions to guide them to escape during an emergency.
According to Azogu, it is necessary for the service to have building designs before construction, vet them and give approval for construction.
“We ensure building materials will not promote or enhance the spread of fire if there is a fire outbreak,
“That is why we do certification for structures right from the design stage through construction till when it is put to use,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to purchase the National Fire Safety code from various fire service stations in the country
