Worried about the recurring fire outbreaks in filling stations, the FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, has directed all filling stations to observe safety regulations or face sanctions.

Abbas Idriss, director-general, FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), disclosed during an emergency stakeholders meeting held on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mr Idriss, represented by the agency’s Director, Forecasting Response Mitigation, Florence Wenegieme, said the minister ordered that any filling station that recorded a fire outbreak would be sanctioned.

The DG said that no responsible government would fold its arms and allow loss of lives and property to be the order of the day.

“Sadly, while we recorded many successes in the aspect of flood management in the Federal Capital, the incidence of fire outbreaks, especially in filling stations, suddenly became a recurring issue of concern.

“This worrisome issue, as our findings reveal, is largely attributed to violations of safety regulations in loading, transportation and off-loading petroleum products and other volatile substances.

“Also, there is a seeming lack of adequate knowledge of basic safety rules, absence of functional firefighting equipment and trained safety officers in most of our filling stations.”

Similarly, Mr Idriss said that discharging petroleum products while the premises were already filled with vehicles and other customers awaiting was a dangerous development.

He also frowned at the activities of black markers in and around the vicinities of the filling stations and highways.

Mr Idriss added their activities were dangerous developments that needed to be addressed by all stakeholders to avoid catastrophic outcomes soon.

“The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (Nimet), on January 24, released its seasonal climate prediction, which has implications on various sectors of our economy, particularly on agriculture, transportation, water, disaster management and other critical sectors.

“Therefore, we will also use this platform to review our performance in managing flood, fire, building collapse and other emergency incidents in the nation’s capital.

“This is necessary in order to further strengthen those areas where we delivered well and also improve on others where there were lapses.”

Earlier, Justin Uwazuruonye, the head, Abuja Operations Office, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), reiterated the determination of the agency to mitigate and reduce the risk of disaster in Abuja and the nation at large.

(NAN)