By Yahaya Isah
Abuja – The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says it has made substantial progress in its efforts at refurbishing the disused fire trucks in its bases all over the country.
The Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Headquarters, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
Adesanya explained that 17 out of the 24 fire trucks earmarked for refurbishment had been successfully repaired and handed over to the respective units.
“The latest set of two refurbished fire trucks was handed over to 107 Air Maritime Group, Benin, on Oct. 5.
“Most of the fire trucks being refurbished had been parked for over 20 years as ‘beyond economic repairs.
“The refurbishment is being undertaken by a local firm utilising Nigerian Engineers and mostly locally sourced materials and spares.
“With the refurbishment of the fire trucks, NAF is now able to more independently provide fire cover for aircraft operations at its bases, thereby enhancing operational safety,” he said.
The director said as part of NAF’s corporate social responsibility, the service was now better positioned to provide complementary services with regards to fire fighting in the host communities.
He explained further that the local firm had on Oct. 7 commenced the refurbishment of another set of two fire trucks at 041 Communications Depot, NAF Base, Shasha in Lagos State.
“The leadership of NAF being mindful of the enormous cost of procuring new fire trucks and the scarce resources in the country, decided to explore the option of locally refurbishing the fire trucks,” Adesanya said. (NAN)
