Cross River State governor, Sir Ben Ayade, supported by the Minister for Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Tuesday commissioned a state-of-the-art fire fighting truck in Calabar.
Governor Ayade lauded President Muhammadu Buhari and the minister for the truck, which is one of about 200 acquired by the federal government.
Describing the acquisition and distribution of the trucks as one of the silent achievements of President Buhari, Ayade commended the minister, whom he said, “is active and performing, delivering on timelines.”
He promised to take a cue from the President and ensure that budgetary provision is made in the 2022 budget for the acquisition of fire fighting trucks for the 18 local governments in the state.
"Cross River is known as the tourism capital of Nigeria and as such safety must be our priority. So you will see that we will reflect this in our budget for 2022 to ensure we provide this kind of fire fighting truck in all the local government areas,” the governor pledged.
Ayade, who noted that emergency response systems have remained a big challenge since fires happen extemporaneously and most times on a state of emergency, disclosed that his government has already placed orders for three fire fighting trucks for the Obudu International Airport.
The minister of interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola accompanied by the controller federal fire service, and all the heads of para military agencies in the state said the deployment of the modern fire fighting truck was to further strengthen safety from unforeseen fires.
While calling on the media to support the effort of government to promote the consciousness of Nigerians in their communities to own the equipment, the former Osun State governor said the federal government has purchased 200 modern fire fighting trucks, distributed 141 and 59 still outstanding.
He pleaded with the personnel handling the trucks to handle them with care as the they do not come cheap.

Nigeria and backwardness are like five and six. Is Nigeria, they make so much noise ontop nonsense. Is this an achievement? What western nation's do secretly