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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 at the week in Lagos, revealed that funds are 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.
The Director-General, NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, said that the arrangement was that when a disaster is beyond the LGAs, and the states, that would be the time that NEMA 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.”
The DG urged the 36 state governors to take proactive action to mitigate the effects of the impending floods,”I humbly seek the cooperation of the Executive Governors for preparedness of the 2023 flooding season.we seek the collaboration with the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) to establish a robust monitoring and evaluation framework which will enable NEMA and the NGF to track progress, assess the effectiveness of floods preparedness initiatives, and identify areas for improvement. Regular feedback and joint evaluation exercises will support evidence-based decision-making and promote accountability in disaster management efforts.”
The NEMA boss referenced the country’s triple structure for disaster and emergency management. “As we know disasters are local and to enhance our disaster management capabilities, it is imperative that the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) are fully operationalised and Local Management Committees (LMCs) are activated. These bodies will play a crucial role in ensuring effective disaster response at the state and local levels.”
Highlighting ongoing proactive efforts by NEMA to mitigate disasters in the country, the DG told the governors that the Federal Government, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has developed a National Plan of Action for the implementation of disaster risk reduction, known as the Sendai Framework (2015-2023).
NEMA has taken steps to align its national policies and strategies with the Sendai Framework by developing the National Disasters Risk Reduction Policy and National Disaster Risk Management Framework, which provide guidance for implementing risk reduction measures at the national, state, and local levels. These initiatives emphasise and highlight the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration and community participation in disaster risk management.
The DG seized the opportunity of the conference to highlight NEMA’s milestones since its creation especially in the past decade when the country had been beset with numerous significant disasters, including major floods, droughts, and outbreaks of disease in all of which have led to considerable loss of life, extensive damage to infrastructure, and substantial economic costs. These disasters, he noted, underline the imperative of proactively addressing the issue of flood preparedness.
The DG of NEMA noted that the nation was hit in 2022 with the worst floods in the history of Nigeria. The impact was widespread and affect 29 of the country’s 36 states, damaged homes, and infrastructure, destroyed farmlands, and displaced people from their communities.
Figures from The Nigerian Red Cross confirmed that at least 2.8million people were affected, without 603 fatalities and more than 2,509 injured.
Ahmed noted that partnership with the state governors will provide a platform for facilitating the sharing of “best practices and lesson learned among the states. We can facilitate discussions, workshops and peer-to-peer learning sessions where states can share their successful initiatives in disaster risk reduction and resilience. This knowledge exchange will help expedite the adoption of effective strategies across the country.”
Based on insights from the Nigerian Meterlogical Agency (NIMET) and the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) who released they 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) and Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) respectively, NEMA has begun to “downscaling of disaster early warning measures to grassroots for effective live-saving early actions during the 2023 rainy season” across-the-board different states of the federation for capacity building efforts as well as funding and provision of equipment to upskill Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) to equipment them and make them ready to “take disaster risk management to the communities to build safe and resilent communities and by extension a safer and resilent Nigeria.”
In relation to the funding matter, the Director-General (DG) of NEMA highlighted that there are existing provisions for interventions by subnational level actors. The DG stated that eight state and local government receives an allocation from the Ecological fund, which NEMA also receives. Consequently, there should be available funding to address disaster-related situations.
