- Safiu Kehinde
The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has slammed a fire service officer over unprofessional conduct during an unscheduled visit to the Wuse Fire Station in Abuja.
Tunji-Ojo had on Thursday arrived at the fire station without prior announcement.
On his arrival, the minister proceeded to assess the service operational vehicles when he discovered one of the fire fighter vehicles was half-filled.
Facing, the officer in charge of the vehicles, Tunji-Ojo expressed his dissatisfaction over the development.
The visibly enraged Minister, as captured in a video shared on X, questioned the officer who admitted that the vehicle is yet to be refilled since its return from an operation yesterday.
“You don’t give me that stupid… Listen, I’m talking. We are talking about public safety here. You can’t tell me they returned an ambulance yesterday.
“This is Wuse for crying out loud. You have market. Most economic hub in Abuja is around this place. You can return and they can call you immediately for another emergency.
“There is no reason why it should be at almost half capacity. There is absolutely no reason.
“Do they inform you that emergency will happen before it happens? Are you not supposed to be ready before it happened?
“This is towards the end of the year, harmattan period. You know and you are telling me you just returned yesterday.” Tunji-Ojo said.
The Minister further dismissed the officer’s excuse as he held that Nigerians deserve the best service from them.
“So, are you paid to make excuses? So, you are being paid that okay when an ambulance come, you have to wait for one day.
“You are telling me they just returned yesterday. Does that excuse sound reasonable to you?
“To that average Nigerian whose house or business is on fire, are you going to give excuse that they just returned an ambulance in the last 24 hours therefore that is why we cannot get water to do our job?
“That is disgusting. You wear this uniform, and you are being paid via taxpayers money just as I’m being paid. I’m being paid to do a job. You are being paid to do a job, and Nigerians deserves the best.
“At every point in time immediately an ambulance comes, you are supposed to refill it because you don’t know when the next call will come. We are talking about lives.” He added.
See video