National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has expressed
concerned over the increasing wave of disasters in the country, saying
that there was the need for constant monitoring of the state of
preparedness of agencies and organizations nationwide.
The Director-General (DG), NEMA, Alhaji Mohammed Sani-Sidi, stated
this at a workshop organized for the South-South zone in collaboration
with the Edo State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) with the theme:
“Building resilience of communities.”
Represented by the NEMA Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Benjamin Oghenah, the
DG said his worry was that “in recent times, communities and their
assets had become more exposed to the impact of hazards, both natural
and human induced.
He said, “natural hazards owing to changing climate, then the
challenges of unplanned urbanization, environmental degradation,
population growth, oil exploration activities and poverty are all some
of the interlinked factors that increase community vulnerability to
disasters.
Sani-Sidi, therefore noted that “the increasing vulnerability and the
subsequent increase in number of disasters is becoming worrisome for
stakeholders in emergency management nationally and worldwide.
“There is therefore the need to constantly monitor the state
preparedness of all agencies and organizations which may contribute to
disaster management and strengthen institutions at the community level.
He said the renewed focus should be “an integrated disaster
management approach by all stakeholders, focused on disaster risk
reduction activities by all.
He said that there should be a shift from “predict and prevent paradigm to building the capacity of communities.”
The DG said the workshop was organized as a clarion call on
stakeholders, the state and particularly, local Governments to
strengthen institutions right to th community level “in the long run,
communities must come to realize and agree that on the cost/benefit
analysis basis, the overdependence on emergency assistance (relief) is
doing more harm than good.
“Communities are frequently and more and more becoming inattentive to
the hazard they face and seem to rather wait and allow hazards to
snowball into disasters.”
The NEMA boss said, “building the resilience of cities or communities
to disasters is increasingly relevant as we face future uncertainties
associated with climate change and human activities as people at the
community level are worse hit by specific disasters and constitute the
first line of contact.
He added that “building the capacity of such people at the community
level provides the building block for an effective national system,
saying, “Nigerians are known for their natural instinct to respond, to
assist distress calls, we need to harness this and develop a community
based resilience capacity.
Sani-Sidi said NEMA, organizing the workshop in collaboration the Edo
SEMA was to deliberate and interact with stakeholders on the best form
of approach to strengthen the capacity of communities in building their
resilience to some of the common disasters around them.
He therefore said that “scientists and Engineers need to translate
their research findings into concepts and language understandable by
communities,
adding that `this workshop must come up with actionable resolutions
that will be tasked for progress and collective development of our
nation.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social services, Mrs
Blessing Megida, commended NEMA for organizing the workshop and hoped
that participants internalized key resolutions of the gathering in
mitigating disasters across the states of the federation.
Participants at the workshop included representatives from the Police,
FRSC, Red Cross, Faith-based organization, members of the NYSC and NSCDC
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