Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, has advised Nigerian governors to set up local emergency units as well as strengthen state emergency management agencies in their state in order to prevent flood disasters.
Speaking to journalists Tuesday in Abuja after a meeting with the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), he insisted that disasters were local hence it has to be tackled from the local levels.
“Disaster is local, they should have community volunteers, local emergency management committee and state emergency agencies so that as they come from bottoms up, we will come from top to bottom, so we can meet halfway,” he said.
He said if the state governors would corporate and partner with NEMA in fighting flood disasters, “what we lost last year, we believe will reduce to the barest minimum.”
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According to Ahmed, the first responder to flooding is within that local government, hence the need to have people from the bottom up to handle the situation.
He called on the state governors to sensitize the people on the need to relocate from risk areas and move over to safer areas to prevent loss of lives and properties amongst others.
He also noted that there was the need for funding adding that, funding would go a long way in curbing disasters.
He said the governors declared their readiness to collaborate and partner with NEMA.
“We have been visiting states and we will be visiting more states to make them understand that disaster management is everybody’s business. We have to work together,” he added.
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