The Benue State Government said to train over 10,000 youths in the act of crime prevention using Fire Extinguishers.

The Special Adviser to Governor Hyacinth Alia on Security and Internal Affairs, Chief Joseph Har, PSP, disclosed this when he met with a delegation from the Bureau for Entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation, in his office in Makurdi.

Har explained that a fire extinguisher poses a big threat to criminality as it is used as an Improvised Explosive Device, (IED), to hide ammunition, small and light weapons as well as used as an instrument to ferry drugs by youths.

He said the pilot program which will be flagged off on Friday by Governor Hyacinth Alia, will also, have the Minister of Interior Tunji Ojo in attendance.

Har also, explained that the youths will be trained on how to identify the genuine fire extinguisher using their android phones to scan, added that there will be stickers for easy identification.

He said, “in collaboration with the DG Bureau for Entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation, Mrs. Benita Shuluwa, we had a meeting with representative of a consultancy company who are into fire Extinguisher stickers solution to train ad-hoc staff to enforce the use of extinguisher positively so as to ensure that genuine fire extinguishers are used.

“Like some people will go and fill cassava flour into fire extinguisher. So instead of extinguishing fire, the cassava flour adds fuel to the fire. So, with this sticker and Android phones, you can scan the extinguishers to ensure that it is genuine. If an extinguisher that is registered is found in crime scene, it will be traced to the owner.

“For instance, extinguishers are used to traffic drugs, ammunition, small and light weapons. They use it too as Improvised Explosives Devices, IED. This is what we plan to do in partnership with Ministry of Interior, Federal and State fire Services.

“Benue is going to stage this pilot project in the country. The event is slated for Friday and Governor Alia will do the flag off.

“The benefits are that it will prevent crime, empower youths and boost internally generated revenue. About 10,000 youths are going to start in the first phase. It is going to put many youths off the unemployment market.

It is the concept of the State Governor and now that it is coming from the Federal Government, we are jumping at it. The minister of Interior , Tunji Ojo is expected to be in the State for the flag-off. It is a huge one,” Har said.