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ABUJA - The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Air Vice Marshal Audu Bida(rtd) has made a passionate.....
ABUJA - The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Air Vice Marshal Audu Bida(rtd) has made a passionate plea for a change in the attitude of Nigerians towards emergency preparedness in the country.
He also called on the citizenry to develop the habit of making good use of available information on disaster management, so as to minimize the occurrence and effects of disasters.
Air Vice Marshal Bida, who spoke in Abuja, during the weekend, at a meeting with zonal heads, insisted on the need for functional Zonal offices of the Agency.
A press statement signed by the Agency's Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Abiodun Oladunjoye and made available to journalists, quoted the DG, NEMA, as saying: 'Constant education of our people and subsequent attitudinal change is the key to improvement in the current state of emergency preparedness in the country.''
'When our people begin to receive and use information about what they can do to minimize the occurrence and effects of disasters, the country will be better for it," he added.
Bida stated further, according to the statement, that, 'with NEMA's effective presence in the zones, the enlightenment efforts of the Agency will now gather more steam, as it will now be easier to liaise with the states and the local governments through their various State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs)
' He also charged them to always monitor the state of preparedness of the SEMAs while also working with the states that have not set up their own SEMAs on its immediate establishment" the statement added.
Responding on behalf of the Zonal Coordinators, Mrs. Usman Fatimah, in charge of the North-Eastern Zone comprising Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Jigawa and Taraba states expressed appreciation to the Director-General for the confidence reposed in them, and solicited for the support of the Headquarters in their new assignment.
NEMA's other zonal offices are located in Lagos for the Southwest Geopolitical zone; Enugu for the Southeast; Port Harcourt for the South-South; Kaduna for the North-West; and Jos for the North-Central zone.
Meanwhile the Deputy Governor of Ondo state, Otunba Omolade Oluwateru has commended the NEMA, for its efforts in addressing the emergency needs of the country.