Nigeria’s Disaster Mgt Lacks Transparency, Accountability – AVM Eyekosi

The director, Peace Support Operations at the Nigerian Air Force headquarters, Air Vice Marshal Sampson Eyekosi, has said Nigeria’s reactive management of disasters lacks transparency and accountability.

He spoke during the official launch of his book, “Managing the displaced: A guide for effective management of displaced persons during emergencies” in Abuja yesterday.

Eyekosi noted that displaced persons suffer a lot, hence the need for a planned response stating what role each organisation involved needs to play.

“The book attempts to identify within our locality, Nigeria in particular, Africa in general and the world at large that when disasters happen, people suffer a lot.

“I was inspired to write the book from the floods of last year in Mokwa, the flash floods. It looked like nothing, but people were suffering and we responded fairly well, but it could be better. There were gaps.

“It is those gaps that I noticed that we need to articulate it, we need to document it so that we try to learn from it. We should be proactive and not just reactive. It looked like, okay, maybe there was no written guide.

“There are a lot of leakages. So we’re advocating that people want to help. Nigerians are generally loving people. They have sympathy for others. But the fear sometimes is that accountability, transparency is not there,” he said.

He stated further that the book provides a guide for all those involved in emergency management, administration, and everyone in the society.

Chairman of the occasion, Mr Sam Oburoh, described the author as an easy going man but strict and disciplined.

Providing overview of the book, Dr. Richard Aisuebeogun said displacements are not rare or unexpected occurrences.

According to him, coordination and accountability fails lead to displacements in many parts of the country.

He said humanitarian resources are not personal gains but trust held on behalf of vulnerable people.

The book reviewer, Hon. Henry Nwawuba Jnr, said the book is divided into 20 chapters providing guidelines on how to respond to disasters and displacement persons.