Emergency Sector Stakeholders Move To Curb Disasters

Stakeholders in the Emergency Management Sector are to jointly draft a pre-disaster agreement to reduce the spate of disasters in the country.

The purpose of this pre-disaster agreement, is to create a framework for cooperation in disaster preparedness and response, including for public health emergencies, between the government, the Nigerian Red Cross Society, and the IFRC in Nigeria.

This was the resolution at the end of a stakeholders meeting in Abuja organized by the Nigerian Red Cross Society, NRCS.

In his opening remarks, the NRCS Secretary General, Alhaji Abubakar Kende, explained that the meeting was to draft and create a legal framework that would enhance the capacity of stakeholders how to perform optimally in mitigating risks and disasters as a response to them has often been uncoordinated with several agencies duplicating each other functions in an unproductive manner.

According to him, the stakeholders will form a technical committee to look into the coordination and management of disasters at various levels in Nigeria.

“The technical committee will
Gather and review all existing regulations and legal frameworks for handling disasters at National and subnational levels, review all relevant ways and means of handling disasters, and merge them all into a single document
“We as a National Society are seeking to strengthen our role as an auxiliary to the Nigerian government. We are seeking to enhance coordination as we and our partners, the IFRC, collaborate with the various government agencies in the course of our disaster response activities.

The NRCS, Secretary General noted that all hands must be on deck to plan and improve on how to reduce disasters in the country.

Alhaji Kende who urged citizens who live in flood-prone areas to relocate urged the Federal government to put modalities in place to cushion the effects of disaster in the country or nation.

The National Legal Adviser of the Nigerian Red Cross, Barrister Muazu Dikwa, said the NRCS was not disrupting any existing law but just strengthening responses during disasters and its role as an auxiliary to government agencies in responding to disasters.

In their goodwill messages, the head of various emergency organizations, the Director General National Emergency Management Agency, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, and Comptroller General, of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Abubakar Audi amongst others represented by their Heads of Department, assured of their agency’s continuous collaboration with the Nigeria Red Cross Society to sustain and ensure disaster was reduced.

Present at the Pre-Disaster Consultative Forum was the National Emergency Management Agency, Ministries of Justice, Interior, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Health.

Ene Idoko, Edited By Grace Namiji