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Louis Ibah
The Federal Government has invested about N5 billion in the acquisition of an automatic aircraft firefighting simulator for the aviation industry.
The simulator, the first of its kind in Africa, is a modern multi-scenario firefighting simulator capable of delivering training for different types of operational incidents involving aircraft in airports and their vicinities. The investment in the equipment is in fulfilment of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) requirement for training of firefighters in the airports and will, overall, enhance competence and proficiency in achieving the primary objective of saving lives in the event of a fire incident.
The equipment manufacturers, Messrs Alpine Metal Technology Company of the United Kingdom, today carried out the factory acceptance and pre-shipment inspection and test of the simulator in the presence of top Nigerian functionaries, including the Minister of State for Aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika.
Sirika, who spoke after inspecting the equipment and the company facility with some government functionaries, said the simulator is costing the nation about N5 billion and is a safety equipment that is key for airport operations.
He said: “The focus of the Buhari-led administration on civil aviation is safety and security. This is therefore a component of it. We take matters of safety and security very seriously.
“Before now, we trained our firefighters in Cameroon and I found myself approving several hundred thousands of dollars for training in Cameroon and I said this is not it. I applied and got approval to procure this firefighting simulator and Mr. President graciously approved it. It will cost the nation about N5 billion and we started it and now it is completed and it’s ready for testing. It has been tested in front of us and you have seen it. It’s in perfect working order and condition and we will install it at the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Zaria (NCAT).”
