KEY POINTS
- Minister says Tinubu’s appointment based on capability, not connections.
- Adeyemi further vows integrity and efficiency in fire and rescue operations.
- National Assembly working on new Fire Service Act.
Nigeria’s Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo says President Bola Tinubu’s appointment of Olumode Adeyemi as Controller General of the Federal Fire Service (FFS) was based solely on competence and capacity rather than personal connections.
Speaking Thursday at Adeyemi’s decoration ceremony in Abuja, Tunji-Ojo called the role “an opportunity only a few ever get” and urged the new chief to deliver results that will endure.
Appointment rooted in merit
“The President did not look at who you are or whose son you are, but at your capability. He has invested his trust in you,” Tunji-Ojo said, while urging Adeyemi to focus on results.
The minister also cautioned that leadership would bring resistance, warning: “Don’t expect 100 percent support from everyone. Moreover, if there is no disagreement in the system, corruption is likely in charge.”
He described the Fire Service as one of Nigeria’s most impactful agencies, adding that every life lost in a fire incident should be treated as an institutional failure.
Legislative backing for reform
Tunji-Ojo revealed that the National Assembly is drafting a new Fire Service Act aimed at boosting rescue operations and enhancing efficiency. He advised Adeyemi to “be the leader, not the led” and to resist pressures to please everyone.
Adeyemi’s pledge
Adeyemi, who further succeeds former CG Abdulganiyu Kaji, pledged “total loyalty” to Tinubu and promised to lead with “integrity, diligence, and purposeful leadership.”
He thanked the minister for “visionary and transformational leadership” and acknowledged the roles of key officials, including the ministry’s permanent secretary Magdalene Ajani and Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Services Board secretary Abdulmalik Jibrin, in facilitating his promotion.
Adeyemi vowed to transform the FFS into “a model of efficiency, discipline, and public trust” while working with stakeholders and frontline personnel, whom he described as “the backbone of our success.”
