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By Christopher Oji and Joseph Obukata
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has called on local governments authorities and state governments to utilise the ecological funds earmarked by the Federal Government to mitigate disasters before calling for assistance from the agency.
NEMA said disaster management is local, which means that rescue and recovery operations should start from the local governments and the states before assistance should be needed from NEMA.
The management of NEMA and stakeholders, who spoke during a one-day workshop for media practitioners on Disaster Reporting In Nigeria in Lagos, revealed that funds were given to both the states and the LGAs for disaster management, but decried the attitude of the states which always leave their duties for NEMA.
NEMA’s Director General, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, said the arrangement was that when a disaster is beyond the LGAs and the states, that would be the time the agency would step in.
“But in Nigeria, once disaster occurs, the attention will be shifted to NEMA, citizens should begin to interrogate their local governments and state on what they do with the ecological funds. NEMA steps in when a disaster is beyond the state government.”
