The morning of Saturday 30th October, 2021 gently witnessed ABH transform from the quiet uneventful atmosphere of the previous day to a beehive of activities.
“This event is coming back to us after a long break”; the defense minister, Asoh Eric stated in an interview, noting that the firefighting orientation exercise is organized in conjunction with the University of Ibadan firefighting services.
The orientation exercise which was originally scheduled to start at 6:00pm did not commence until after 7:25pm on Saturday. Brownites reluctance to forsake a football match between Manchester United and Tottenham and attend the orientation was cited for the delay.
When the fire fighters arrived the venue at 6:30pm, there were only about above five Brownites in attendance. The defense minister was seen appealing to Brownites who were watching the football match to listen to the fire fighters and gather around during half time for the orientation. However, many turned a deaf ear to this plea and the attendance did not improve.
“The firefighters felt they were being disrespected and decided to leave, so I had to coax them and give them incentives to make them stay”, the defense minister stated.
The firefighting exercise eventually kicked off at 7:25pm and ended some minutes after 8:00pm. “It was short and educative. I learnt a lot”, a Brownite commented. “It was amazing. I learnt new things. I believe with what I learnt, I should be able to help put out fires.”, Precious, another Brownite commented.
“I learnt about the PASS acronym and the different types of fires and extinguishers. I was impressed and I really enjoyed myself.”, Joy remarked. “I didn’t think it was still going to hold due to the issue with the football match but I was happy with the turn out”.
When approached for a remark, the defense minister said he was happy with the turnout although he expected more people. “I was expecting much more support seeing as this is our event and we all know each other. Compared to gathering strangers for an event, I expected more from Brownites”, he commented.
Although, the event started late and did not initially seem promising, the orientation exercise gave the Brownites in attendance a lot to take home.