NEMA Slams Inactive SEMAs

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has condemned non-challant attitude of some state governments in the country in handling disaster issues.

According to the Federal Government disaster management outfit, “It is quite unfortunate that out of the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Captial Territory, Abuja, only 25 states have put in place their State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs)”. This, the body, noted is in spite of the fact that the Act establishing NEMA makes it compulsory for such offices in each of the federation.

Expressing his disappointment in Enugu, Monday, during a two day consultative meeting with executive secretaries/director-generals of State Emergency Management Agencies, Director General of NEMA, Air Vice Marshal Audu-Bida, expressed regret that despite the huge sums of money state governors collect from the monthly Federal Allocation, some of them find it difficult to fund their SEMA offices.

Such negative attitude of some governors, he noted, had done more harm than good to the entire country, advising those involved to have a change of heart or face the consequences of their action.

Represented on the occasion by the officer in charge of Planning, Reseach and Forcast, Mr. Charles Agbo, the NEMA boss, however, urged the state chief executives to have a change of heart in disaster issues, pointing out that disaster have over time constituted a major distraction to development process. “Whenever it occurs, lives are lost, social networks disrupted,” he noted and called on government at all levels to always take the issue very seriously.

“Disasters”,  he continued, “are unpredictable, there is need for government to always provide the necessary procedures and mechanism to mitigate them.”

The NEMA boss also noted that the nation’s diverse and adverse climatic condition and its topography, coupled with precarious levels of living and ignorance had made the country vulnerable to both natural and man-made disasters.

He stressed the need for closer collaboration between all the tiers of government, disclosing that it is against the back ground of adequate coordination of disaster in various geo political zones of the federation that the agency decided to put in place the zonal offices in 2006.

“It is mainly for the purposes of coordinating the activities of all stakeholders within the states and at the grassroots”, he explained.

He stated further that the emergency responses in various states may suffer set back without proper collaboration of the local, state and zonal offices of NEMA, calling on all stakeholders to  always join hands with the agency in confronting disaster problems.

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State in his remarks, during the event, expressed satisfaction with NEMA activities in the coal city state of Enugu, especially the recent provision of a D-sat facility for the state SEMA.

The governor, who spoke through his deputy, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, promised to partner with NEMA at all times admitting that the management of disasters should be the job of all and sundry.