NEMA assures of better emergency response

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has assured stakeholders that it will henceforth participate in joint trainings to provide better response to emergencies.
NEMA Director General, Engineer Mustapha Maihaja gave the assurance yesterday in Kaduna when he visited the 401 Flying Training School, Nigeria Air Force (NAF) Base as part of visit to all disaster units in the country.
He said that NEMA is saddled with the responsibility of disaster management in all ramifications, adding that the agency has developed many policies, including the National Disaster Response Plan, that guides disaster management in Nigeria.
According to the NEMA boss, “one of the gaps identified by the Commander of 401 Training School is the need for joint training, I assure you we would have a special session where this gap and others would be discussed.
“Disaster has a circular activity from prevention, mitigation to response.
NEMA coordinates all activities of stakeholders in disaster management.
The agency also coordinates disaster management of humanitarian crisis.
Its main component is establishing a disaster response unit which forms an integral part.
“Disasters are categorised into minor, major and catastrophic.
FG response only comes when it is catastrophic.
The president declares a catastrophic disaster and all units, including the Army, Navy and Air force disaster units are activated and coordinated by NEMA.
Others can be handled by SEMA.
But today in NEMA, we find ourselves also managing minor disasters,” he added.
“We cannot run away from natural disasters, mostly owing to the climate change.
As disaster managers, we would do all within our powers to ensure that NEMA is prompt in response to disasters,” he assured.
Commander 401 Flying Training School, Group Captain Ahmed Yusuf Dari said that the school was established in 1964 for organising flying training for NAF Pilots and also serves as a disaster response unit.
He said that the school is designated as a direct emergency response unit.
“Our achievements include 12 casualty and 13 medical evacuation missions within the last 6 months.
In executing the unit’s responsibilities, we have tried to operate within our safety limits and we got assistance from NEMA,” he added.