The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Ahmed Habib has promised a strong working synergy between the Agency and State Emergency Management Agencies on disaster risk reduction.
Alhaji Habib stated this when he played host to the Executive Secretaries and Director General of Lagos, Kaduna, and Ekiti state Emergency Management Agencies in Abuja.
He noted that the collaboration will enhance better training and experience sharing between the National Emergency Management Agency and State Emergency Management Agencies.
Director-General of Lagos state emergency Agencies, Dr. Oluyemi Oke- Osanyintolu explains that the visit was to familiarize, collaborate, and clear grey areas on how to improve the SEMA disasters response system.
Dr. Oke-Osanyintolu also thanked the active role played by NEMA during the Search and rescue operation during the collapse of the twenty-one story building in Lagos noting that the Lagos State Government was currently partnering with developers in the state to mitigate a recurrence of such a major disaster in the state and building the quality response capability of first responders.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Muhammed Mu’azu Mukaddas said their visit to NEMA head office was to factor ways on improving, rescue and disaster risk management and maintained that the Kaduna state government in collaboration with security agencies are working out modalities to check crisis prune areas in the state.
He stressed that the state is faced majorly by armed banditry noting the KASEMA has responded through first responders to the crisis and currently working on ending banditry in the state.
Alhaji Mukaddas maintained that the tripartite state emergency management Agency meeting with the National Emergency Management has agreed on the conference for training of SEMAs personnel later in the year at Lagos and Kaduna.
On the other hand, the Chairman, Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency Captain Sunday Adebomi opined that the meeting was timely in addressing setbacks faced by States Emergency Management Agencies and expressed optimism that the upcoming conference will better position states emergency management for better and quality service delivery
Captain Adebomi said that the upcoming conference in Lagos and Kaduna will reduce insecurity in the country.
Reporting by Ayo Agbeoluwaye, editing by Daniel Adejo.