The Minister of Interior, Mr. Olubunmi Tun- ji-Ojo has expressed optimism that when fully operational, the Fire Service Academy in the country would accommodate the private sector in its training programmes, as part of measures to reduce capital flight to the barest minimum.

The minister made the commitment yesterday during an inspection tour of the Academy located at Sheda in Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He stated further that the training institute now has an extended mandate to function as a parliamentary institute, for professionalism and career development of agencies under the Ministry.

“So, this Academy provides us that opportunity, not just to train the officers of the Federal Fire Service, but to also train private sector people, and to reduce the capital flight that we have been experiencing; where people travel abroad to train themselves on rescue management, and rescue services.

“And we believe that we will provide these facilities here, and further empower our youths”, Tunji-Ojo declared. He said the Academy will also serve as a veritable platform for youth empowerment, adding that “What we are trying to do is a bit novel.

We are trying to create a world-class Fire Academy…Part of what we have decided to now do, is to even extend it beyond a Fire Academy, and to create more like paramilitary institute for professionalism and career development.

“So, we want to make it a really big thing; to really make this a hub for capacity building and I want to say very clearly that we sincerely believe this is a huge one for Mr. President; it’s a huge one for this administration.

“And we understand that in this era, fire is not just about the Fire Service, Fire Service should be about emergency response and management, and rescue services,” he added. Earlier, the Chairman of Kwali Area Council, Mr. Danladi Chiya, thanked the government for considering his domain worthy for the establishment of the “laudable project”