Nigeria: NEMA advocates more resources in disaster management
Amid the increase of social and economic costs of managing disasters over the years, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it has become imperative that all available resources should be deployed to achieve maximum benefits in disaster management programmes.
The Director General of , NEMA AVM Mohammed M. Audu-Bida (rtd) made the assertion at the opening ceremony of a four day seminar on disasters management for senior managers organized by the Agency in collaboration with the Bournemouth University Disasters Management Centre (BUDMC) at the Asaa Pyramid Hotel, Kaduna.
He said the trend in the frequency and intensity of disasters nationally and internationally is due to unpredictable climatic changes, severe flooding, fire, drought, terrorism, epidemics and urbanization especially in developing countries. He said proper utilization of scarce resources in the country is required to prevent and mitigate such incidences.
AVM Audu-Bida stated “To achieve this, we need to embrace internationally accepted approaches based on sound knowledge of disaster management. The difficulty arises from responding in a coordinated manner”.
He added that another very important but frequently ignored aspect in disaster management efforts is risk assessment, saying this has to do with the impact of developmental programmes on vulnerability of the populace.
The Director General noted that as part of the seminar, participants would be sharing information on how to integrate their institutional plans and at the end will enable them become the new vanguards of disaster management in their respective organizations.
Participants at the programme were drawn from response agencies, including NEMA, Police, Federal Road Safety Commission, Civil Defence, and the Red Cross among others.
Yushau A. Shuaib
Head of Press and Public Relations
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