YENAGOA (Sundiata Post) Bayelsa State Government has called for the employment of more indigenes in the Federal Fire Service and assured of partnership with environmental groups against environmental terrorism.
Commissioning a rapid response fire fighting truck in Government House, Yenagoa at the weekend, Governor Douye Diri, said the recruitment of more indigenes of the state into the Federal Fire Service was aimed at meeting the right quota of employment allocated to the state.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, expressed displeasure at the short changing of the state in several federal agencies where the quota system is used as a criterion for employment.
He thanked the Controller-General of the Federal Fire Service for the deployment of the ultramodern firefighting equipment to the state and urged the service to make deliberate efforts to employ Bayelsans to fill the quota meant for the state for the sake of fairness and equity.
The governor also called on the state command of the Federal Fire Service to kickstart a fire safety awareness programme on radio to enlighten the people on how to prevent fire incidents and safety measures in the event of any fire outbreak.
Diri observed that the slim-built anti-fire truck would enhance firefighting in the state and urged the fire service to take quick steps to deploy water craft firefighting equipment in the riverine communities to mitigate fire outbreaks, which he lamented, claimed a few lives this year.
His words: “We are grateful to the Controller General of the Federal Fire Service for making this unique donation to the Bayelsa State Command. Fire is like death which doesn’t make an announcement before it occurs.
“While we are not praying for fire outbreaks, we must be prepared to get rid of it whenever it occurs. So the deployment of this fire truck is a shot in the arm, in terms of our desire to make sure that in case of any fire incident, it is timely put out.
“We also want to see how fire ambulance crafts can be deployed to our rural areas because fire incidents are not restricted to only the urban areas.
“Bayelsa is about 70 percent littoral, so we will be very appreciative if the fire service move with a little bit of speed in terms of deploying water craft firefighting equipment to our riverine communities in Brass, Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw LGAs.
“We also want to talk about employment of Bayelsans. I believe that Bayelsa is not having enough of its quota of those in the Federal Fire Service. We will be really looking forward to seeing how you could increase recruitment of our people.”
Earlier in his presentation, the State Controller of the Federal Fire Service, ACF Amos Diton, disclosed that Bayelsa was the only state in the entire South-South and South-East that has been allocated with the rapid response firefighting truck.
ACF Amos who thanked the state government for always lending support to the Federal Fire Service in the state, appealed to the governor to provide the state command with a piece of land to build a functional operational office.
He called for the inclusion of the state command of the Federal Fire Service in security council meetings and appealed the provision of a utility vehicle to enhance the operational mobility of the command.
In another development, the Bayelsa State Government has indicated its interest to partner civil society organisations (CSOs) to intensify its advocacy on the twin issues of human and environmental rights in the Niger Delta.
The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, gave the hint when the leadership of the Human and Environment Development Agenda (HEDA) paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Yenagoa, at the weekend.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo, who noted that the issue of environmental and human rights occupy the front burner in the agenda of the state government, said the Federal Government had not been fair enough to the state on the issue of environmental protection in the state.
Describing cases of environmental terrorism occasioned by oil spills and gas flaring in the Niger Delta as worse than insecurity in the northern part of the country, he said Bayelsa was ready to work closely with the civil society to create greater awareness on the issues.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Human and Environment Development Agenda (HEDA), Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, said their visit was part of civil society engagement of states in the Niger Delta on issues pertaining to human and environmental rights.
Mr. Suraju pointed out that HEDA was ready to partner the Bayelsa State Government to promote advocacy on its report on environmental injustice and terrorism in Bayelsa and the entire Niger Delta region.
He maintained that if other states in the Niger Delta had done what Bayelsa had done, more global attention would have been given to the problem of environmental injustice facing the region.
The HEDA team included the Director of Corner House, United Kingdom, Mr Nicholas Hildyard, and the Legal Advisor, Ms Cecilia Ogwuche.
