Enugu state governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has called on all stakeholders in emergency management in the country to collaborate with one another to reduce the impact of disasters caused by natural hazards and vulnerabilities that constantly threated people’s lives and their livelihood.
The governor made the call while addressing stakeholders during a two day meeting of Emergency Management Agency organised by Enugu state Emergency management agency in Enugu recently.
The governor said that no nation is free from the impact of disaster caused by the combination of natural hazards that put thousands of people into abject poverty.
He noted, “While we can not do away with natural hazards, it is obvious that we can eliminate those that we can cause, mininize those that we increase and reduce our vulnerability to most of them, doing this requires healthy and resilient communities and ecosystems, highly sensitized local population and most importantly, inter-agency collaboration and synergy”.
He noted that sound disaster management principles hinges on effective collaboration and coordination between the national, state, local governments and community structures.
“All stakeholders need to be brought together in a coordinated manner in order to achieve our overall vissions of building resilient communities”. According to the state executive vehicle for integration and coordination are consultation and dialogue.
In a keynote address by GOC 82 division Nigerian Army Enugu AB Abubabkar,called on every stakeholder to be prepared all the time.
Abubabkar who spoke on contempolary Challenges to effective Disaster Management in Nigeria the role of the Nigerian Army commended the organisers of the workshop considering the recent happenings in the world now and Nigeria in particular.
The GOC chronicled major disaster areas and their impacts when it occurs, pointing out that it is obvious that disasters are bound to occur hence the need for disaster management to mitigate effects of disasters.
He said that although the National Emergency Management Agency delegates authority to respective state Emergency Management agencies and local Emergency Management Agencies, other organisations such as the Nigerian Army and Police force also have wide range of responsibilities to fulfil in the area of disaster management.
He however focused on the relationship between the Nigerian Army and the NEMA, the capabilities of the Nigerian Army for disaster management as well as contemporary issues facing disaster management in the country.
The executive secretary Enugu state Emergency Management Agency Nkechi Eneh in her speech called for strong advocate and development of understanding among stakeholders in the emergency management.
The theme of the workshop is “Emergency Preparedness and Response- Key to effective disaster risk management” Eneh said that some of the objectives of organizing the meeting was to provide a platform for stakeholders to articulate their roles and responsibilities in the implementation of disaster management activities in the state.
To appraise the preparedness and response strategis of relevant stakeholders, identify gaps and suggest ways of addressing the and also to create a database of all the relevant stakeholders both at the state and local government levels among others.
She noted that Emergency Managers resort to a reactive approach to disasters on account of poor prepreparation and called on disaster management to renew their collective resolve towards a more coordinated strategy and sustenance of public confidence.
” I want to assure you that SEMA Enugu is determined to drive the collaboration of all stakeholders with a view to providing long-term sustainable solutions to both natural and human induced disasters”.
