From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has advocated the establishment of local emergency management committees to perform the critical roles of disaster risk reduction (DRR) at the community level.
It also identified the importance of strengthening the state emergency management agencies (SEMA) to enable them quickly response to human and natural disasters that might occur unexpectedly.
These were some of the decisions taken at the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction workshop organised by NEMA in Abuja, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme.
The meeting was aimed at reviewing the framework and drafting a national plan of action for implementation.
The platform also advocated the use of established institutions such as National Orientation Agency, News Agency of Nigeria and other media platforms for effective advocacy and awareness programs at the grassroots.
It also resolved to leverage on science, technology, academia and indigenous knowledge to provide DRR solutions, and agreed to set up a technical committee to come up with recommendations that would strengthen the national platform on DRR.
NEMA Director-General, Muhammad Sani Sidi, noted that the platform was a reflection of government’s commitment to implement DRR activities, considering the fact that Nigeria has witnessed continuous rise in disasters, resulting in loss of lives, large-scale displacement, socio-economic dislocation and environmental degradation.
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