The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has called for the establishment of Local Government Emergency Management Committees.
According to NEMA, the establishment of the Local Government Emergency Management Committees will help in quick response to emergencies at the grassroots, especially floods.
NEMA’s information officer, Manzo Ezekiel, stated this during the conversation at LEADERSHIP Twitter Spaces at the weekend.
He stated that NEMA’s funding is coming from ecological funds adding that the same funds are shared between the states, LGAs and the federal government.
According to him, governors must play their part in spending the money on disaster management through their State Emergency Management Agencies and Local Government Emergency Management Committees when created.
“There are three main factors that cause flooding. One of them is the volume of rainfall which is above normal. Lack of water flowing through the normal channel. Water will always have its way and if the river can’t contain the water, it overflows the banks into houses and farmlands,” Ezekiel said, while speaking on the devastating flood that killed over 600 Nigerians with over 1.4 million people displaced in over 23 states.
“The Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroon contributed to the flood in Benue, Adamawa and Kogi States. But we have found out that many residents close to these locations built their houses close to the river.
“Flooding is one of the natural disasters that you cannot prevent. It floods when its channels are blocked and that is why we are having this emergency. On our part, NEMA under the leadership of the director-general, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, has been working hard to assuage the sufferings of Nigerians, ” Ezekiel said.
Ezekiel, who said even though many have lost their means of livelihood as a result of the flooding, added that after the water recedes, it will deposit nutrients that are good for farming the following year.
“The Nigerian Meteorological Agency forecast the flooding. We carry out sensitisation because we always take their warnings seriously. But there is always no proactiveness on the part of the state governments.
“The number of deaths would have been worse if not for the intervention of NEMA. We have to be proactive. The same ecological funds NEMA gets to carry out their operations is shared between the states, local government and the federal government. So, if the federal government through NEMA is spending such money on disaster management, the states and the local governments should also reciprocate the gesture.
“As NEMA brings part of its ecological fund, the states should also contribute. NEMA cannot be everywhere and cannot do it alone. It starts from the community, local government and the state.
According to him, if local governments set up emergency management committees, it will be the committee that will go to the local community to help with an emergency, adding that disaster management is a collective effort.
“State governors must be more practical by contributing part of the ecological funds to help in ensuring that the suffering of the people is assuaged,” Ezekiel said.
The Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council spokesperson, Ndi Kato, who was speaking on the topic of whether presidential candidates should emulate her principal Peter Obi and also suspend their campaigns, said the victims need empathy and help.
“Empathy and care have been missing in Nigerian politics but Peter Obi has brought the election process back to the people to decide the value of Nigerian life.
“Politics is not a dirty game. We are not supposed to be part of them. We have to show care for the people. Over 600 people have died, millions displaced; this calls for empathy,” Kato said.
On why Peter Obi wears Labour Party clothes with a logo to visit the displaced person in Benue, Kato said her presidential candidate mostly wears the same clothes,” adding, “It’s about the value he places on the people.”
Also, former member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly who is now with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof Usman Modibbo, said the presidential candidates should go a step further and contribute a substantial amount to resettle the displaced persons.
“Let them contribute a certain amount of money for the IDPs. The economic impact is coming later; no agricultural insurance system. They should show empathy and donate, and tell us what they would do to forestall the future occurrence of this flooding, ” Modibbo said.
Also, a good governance advocate and gubernatorial candidate in the last Osun State gubernatorial election, Dr Ademola Bayonle said the presidential candidates must use their platforms to raise money for the victims.
“They should use their platforms to raise money for the people. We’ve seen some of the presidential candidates donating. It should go beyond that,” he said.
Activist Deji Adeyanju, on his part, said it makes no sense for people to campaign while many are trapped by the flood disaster.
“It makes no sense for people to keep campaigning while people are in pain. The people showing concern will still come back to take pictures of the canoe rides.
“They are not ready to solve problems. What did they do when they were in government? Adeyanju said of the presidential candidates.
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