The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service became operative on 31st August 1972
under an Expatriate Chief Officer Sir Allan Flemming as the head along with a 3-man crew and a mandate to further protect lives and property within the Lagos Metropolis and it’s noted for her efficiency and vibrancy in the discharge of her responsibilities.
The project executor F&M ACME Limited, a subsidiary of BrookHeritage Holdings Limited, is one of the fastest growing indigenous construction and real estate firm. It completed the project which was commissioned on 26th October 2022.
It’s worthy of note that, since the invasion of petro-dollars in Nigeria, there has been massive, but haphazardly coordinated expansion in economic activities across the country. This development has made fire incidents a major source of danger to public safety and property.
In fact, recurring fire incidents at petrol loading bays, tank farms, pipelines and other similar sources are good examples of such danger. Again, most of the poorly developed market clusters across the country annually go up in flames; while fire at multi-storey buildings, petro-chemical industries and crash sites always constitutes embarrassments to outdated fire equipment.
A critical look at the neglect of the Fire Service by federal, state and local governments in Nigeria is a source for concern. Indeed, most of the vehicles at the fire stations are at the state of complete disrepair.
But, Lagos State as always, is standing out among its contemporaries in Nigeria by setting the pace in the area of infrastructure. The recent arrangement between the state and F&M ACME to reconstruct and face-lift the fire rescue service headquarters at Alausa under the supervision of the Lagos State Infrastructure Asset Management Agency (LASIAMA) is a pointer to that.
At the commisioning the EXECUTIVE Governor of Lagos State, Mr. BABAJIDE Sanwo-Olu expressed his delight to the excellence of execution of the project. He said, “I was personally impressed yesterday when I saw the pictures of the completion. I want to thank our contractor, Mr Femi Olukotun for this great edifice.
Mr Governor said further, “We have 4 new Fire stations that were Commisioned today. And this is the headquarters. This shows the level of our preparedness to combat emergency and Fire disaster; to save lives and properties of Lagosians. For the first time in the history of this state we will see some new sophisticated equipments to be handed over for use by Lagos state. We want to compete with global citizens in the world. It is indeed what we meant by wanting to be a 21st century state. And am happy we are responding to and fulfilling what a mega city should look like.”
Also speaking on this development, the Group Chief Executive Officer of BrookHeritage Holdings Limited, Femi Olukotun said that, the aim of the project is to renovate existing offices as well as design and build a new standard and befitting administrative office structure to serve as the headquarters of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service.
As a contractor we are very proud to be part of this laudable achievement of Mr Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu especially in relation to various fire stations that were upgraded, newly built and in particular the headquarters of the lagos state fire & rescue service in which our company reconstructed. It is quite a very encouraging opportunity for us and we have decided to take up this job very diligently and constructed a well befitting fire service headquarters for lagos state as it has been mention earlier by the supervising agency in charge LASIAMA; it was formerly a 20 rooms building but we have been able to reconstruct and ensure that is now enlarged and can accommodate over 60 offices including, the gym, the sick bay, the officers mess, two different section of conference rooms, executive conference room and general conference room, we have the communication room, we have a standard slide for emergency response etc.
The building was constructed with the best of sophisticated equipments and materials that can actually stand the text of time and the aesthetics is what will deliberately work on to ensure that we deliver a project that we can be proud of and indeed we are very proud of this project and with the new redesigning and reconstruction you see that the headquarter is now a complete emergency route in which all visitors to the lagos state fire and rescue service headquarter will now have a different entry and exist route which does not interfere with emergency responder that are on standby, these are the new redevelopment that have been put into this particular project especially at the headquarters.
We are proud once again to be part of this laudable project; we are also very humbled by series of goodwill messages that we have received in respect of this project and we want to assure the general public that we as a construction firm will continue to do our best to ensure that we give out quality services at every opportunity that we have to serve.
I appreciate Mr Governor once again and I wish him well in his future endeavours.
The Director of Fire Service Lagos state, Mrs Margaret Adeyeye while speaking about the project said, “Today Mr Governor commission 4 fire stations, 3 brand new and an upgraded building of fire and rescue service from a bungalow. Here we have 20 offices before but now I can boldly tell you we have 60 offices in lagos state fire and rescue service headquarters. With this new development, We will be more proactive in terms of response time, you know when we are very close to the grassroots , the response time will be faster compare to what we used to have. Aside that we can see the morale of the staff, they are all happy, seeing what the Governor put in place for the fire service to make sure our job is easier. It will make us to work even more than we have been working. It will encourage us to do more.
To whom more is given more is expected.
My advice to lagosians: the best fire force is the one presented, Mr Governor has given us infrastructure and equipments, and more staffing. it is left for us, both staff and the public to make use of it to its ultimate purpose.
The public should support fire service. When they call for emergency, this is not the time to damage fire trucks.The fire trucks is being procured by Lagos taxpayers money. We need to protect it.”
Speaking further Taiwo Otenaike (Engr) MNSE, the Head of Engineering & Technical at F&M ACME who was in charge of the construction also said that “The reconstruction of fire and rescue service headquarters is a storey high ground + 1 upper floor building which is to be used as office spaces. The construction methodology adopted is a framed structure. The total square area of the main building is 1699.7𝑚2 while the adjoining buildings which were renovated is 505.52𝑚2 as well as the Fire Service appliance bay” he noted.
Meanwhile, Olukotun said their company also owns Agriant Limited, an integrated farm, agro-allied and food processing company with head office in Lagos. The company is one of the Nigeria’s leading foods and agro-allied companies. It has deep interest in aquaculture with over 150,000 natural pond capacities, which is presently at 70% occupancy (Catfish & Tilapia), Oil Palm, Maize & Pineapple Plantations as well as Animal husbandry.
Continuing, he disclosed that, Agriant is a subsidiary of BrookHeritage Holdings, a proprietary company, coordinating business interests in Finance, Energy, Real Estate and Agriculture with a strong determination to succeed in all facets of its business endeavour. The company has been creating opportunities and transforming lives.
Further speaking, he pointed out that, “our objective is to give agriculture a new meaning by developing each node of the agricultural value chain in the agronomy ecosystem we choose to play, through the use of modern technology from the point of rearing and cultivation to processing and distribution of finished goods for consumption.”
While speaking on the importance of animal husbandry to the economy, Femi disclosed that, production of animal source foods contributes to economic development by generating income and employment for livestock keepers and actors along livestock value chains.
Also, he pointed out that, “local livestock production increases the availability of animal source foods as a source of proteins and micronutrients, necessary for a healthy population. Livestock provide a pathway to women empowerment and gender equality, which are important factors for economic development.”
For Olukotun, the food and income benefits provided by inland capture fisheries and aquaculture can afford opportunities for empowering individuals where opportunities in other sectors are limited. Inland fishes are important food and nutritional resources, especially rural economies in developing countries like Nigeria.
He stressed that, “sustainable, productive fisheries and aquaculture improve food and nutrition security, increase income and improve livelihoods, promote economic growth and protect our environment and natural resources and that’s what stands us out in Agriant.”
“Our farms are located at Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States. Our dried catfish and fish filets are certified by NAFDAC. We also export our products to Europe.” He stated.
