Director general National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs Zubaida Umar has directed that all newly acquired search and rescue equipment and consumables for NEMA zonal and operation offices should be deployed with immediate effect as part of preparation for the 2024 rainy season in addition to other disasters in Nigeria.
Mrs Umar gave the directive on Tuesday in Abuja during an inspection visit to NEMA warehouses to ascertain the agency’s relief stockpiles and operational equipment.
NEMA spokesperson, Ezekiel Manzo said the visit was the first since she assumed office as director general of NEMA.
She emphasized the imperative of timely response to disasters, noting that this can only be achieved through proactive measures that include prepositioning of equipment and training of personnel that will operate the lifesaving assets in the event of sudden onset of disasters across Nigeria.
Similarly, she directed that there should be regular stocktaking of relief items in NEMA warehouses nationwide including dates of expiry for timely deployment to persons in need in the event of emergency.
Some of the equipment to be deployed include mobile water purification equipment, mobile incident command vehicles, incident response vehicles, life jackets and other lifesaving gadgets currently stored at the NEMA warehouse and other storage locations in Abuja.
