The Acting Director General of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Emergency Management Agency, Ibrahim Sabo, has announced that the agency successfully saved a total of 4,880 lives and properties valued at approximately N99.3 million from flood, fire, and building collapse incidents in the year 2023.
Sabo made this disclosure during a media briefing held at the FEMA Conference Hall in Abuja on Tuesday, News About Nigeria gathered.
He elaborated on the agency’s life-saving operations, revealing that they had rescued 1,842 individuals from fire-related incidents, 174 lives from building collapses, and 2,864 lives from flooding across the FCT.
Highlighting the impact of their efforts, Sabo noted that the agency managed to save properties worth N99.3 million from fire outbreaks.
He, however, lamented the loss of eight lives due to building collapses and flooding incidents.
Speaking about FEMA’s core mission, he stated, “Our major responsibility is saving lives and property of FCT residents, and with the full support we are having from the FCT administration, we have been able to save about 1,842 lives, that’s in all fire incidences that occurred within the FCT, and no life was lost completely. And we have been able to save properties worth about N99.3 million, which is on fire outbreaks.”
On building collapse incidents, Sabo highlighted that the agency had managed to save 174 lives but had, unfortunately, lost four people in these cases.
As for flood-related incidents, he revealed that they had rescued 2,864 lives.
However, he expressed his sadness about the avoidable loss of lives to flooding, emphasising that in many cases, warnings and barricades were in place to caution against flood-prone areas.
As part of their achievements, Sabo pointed out that FEMA had significantly enhanced the capacity of its staff, including emergency marshals and vanguards.
They had also improved their emergency response time from five minutes to just three minutes, further solidifying the agency’s commitment to saving lives and safeguarding property in the FCT.
