Emergency Management: Stakeholders are not playing their role, NEMA DG

The acting Director General of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Dr. Charles Agbo today at a media parley with news editors in Lagos decried the inability to stakeholders in emergency management to meet their statutory responsibility, noting that only 25 percent of 36 states of the federation and Federal capital Territory have established State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA to manage disasters in their localities.

He, therefore, enjoined the media to enlighten the states and local government on their statutory responsibility when disaster occur as well as in its prevention.

The Ag. DG said: “I’m asking the media to look at the mandate of NEMA, look at the Act that established NEMA and see what NEMA is supposed to do, what the federal government is supposed to do, what the states are supposed to do, what the local governments are supposed to do. NEMA’s duty specifically is to coordinate the response of other agencies. But how you coordinate the responses of other agencies? We can do that by collaborating with them, by cooperating with them and by partnering with them.

“And in the last three months, the level of cooperation between NEMA and our partners; the different stakeholders, has improved tremendously. And this what I want the media to review and see what they can do.

“Often times, when there problem, take the disaster in Ogun State for example, where is SEMA, where is LEMAC? The states are supposed to have their State Emergency Management Agencies that must address disasters in their localities. But often, when disaster occur in a state, they will come and say where is NEMA? NEMA is not a magician and NEMA cannot perform the statutory responsibilities of the states. And this is where the media come in. The media must continuously inform the public of the statutory responsibilities of the states because the states, every month, collect their ecological funds that should be used to address ecological problems in their states.”

Agbo in recognising the limitations and challenges facing some states in the area of emergency management, equally noted: “It is true that the states have challenges and that is why we are calling on our stakeholders to partner with us, to collaborate with us to ensure that when a disaster occurs, their response and intervention becomes efficient and effective by responding promptly.

“The parley this afternoon is first of all look at what we can do here and see how we can educate Nigerians; enlighten Nigerians, the states and local governments, of their responsibilities and where NEMA comes in.

It is not all disaster incidents that NEMA must intervene. For example, I think somewhere in Anambra, someone called that a market was gutted by fire and he wanted NEMA to intervene. When markets are gutted by fire, they ask NEMA for compensation.

“But we have been telling the states to ensure that they insure the goods in the market, the people in the markets, but each time a market is gutted by fire or a factory is gutted by fire, its NEMA (they call). These are issues that the press must be aware of and tell the world that NEMA doesn’t have the resources, and even our mandate doesn’t allow us to intervene in such situations.

“It is important that the media come in at some point to ask questions. Only about 25% of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, has what we call State Emergency Management Agency. Most of them are not even funded. Most of them are not even legislated. Most of them are not appendages to the states. So, when there is a problem in a state it is NEMA that the will call”, the DG said.