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Tag: NEMA

  • Boat mishaps: NEMA to train divers

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) will train volunteer divers in the riverine areas of Niger State in the act of saving people during coastal mishaps or flooding.

    Its Director-General, Mohammed Sidi, made this known in Minna, Niger State while reacting to the death of 14 girls in two boat mishaps at Rivers Guni and Sarkin Pawa in Munya Local Government area of Niger State.

    Sidi spoke through the head of Minna office of the agency, Slaku Bijimi, during a stakeholders’ workshop on solid and liquid waste management in the mitigation and prevention of flood disaster.

    The NEMA boss identified poor management of solid and liquid waste as one of the major risk factors responsible for most urban flooding.

    He warned that indiscriminate dumping of refuse in gutters, water channels and converting such drainages into dump sites of their wastes are also responsible for recurrent flooding annually.

    Sidi said communities have to take serious interest in early warning of the agency on imminent flood, especially during serious downpour.

  • NHRC partners NEMA on IDPs

    NHRC partners NEMA on IDPs

    The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has partnered  with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to address the challenges faced by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

    NHRC’s Executive Secretary Prof. Bem Angwe disclosed this when the Director-General of  NEMA, Alhaji Mohammed Sanni Sidi and his management staff paid a courtesy call on the Executive Secretary at the Commission headquarters in Abuja.

    Prof. Angwe praised NEMA for responding promptly to the plight  of some displaced persons in Abuja.

    He said: “NEMA is fighting an armed  conflict called the wars of the 21st century, these wars are fought by non-state actors who cannot be identified and most often easily  mix with the civilian population therefore  making it difficult for the military who are doing their best to identify and eliminate them

    “The concept of NEMA was not to manage this form of armed conflict against  Nigerian state, this task is overwhelming but at no time have we  heard NEMA crying out and complaining. Today every Nigerian is concerned about the condition of vulnerable people in the country.

    “Most people who are not IDPS are claiming to be one, taking advantage of the IDPs situation, but every Nigerian is entitled to  some welfare by the government. Government has a duty to ensure that  every Nigerian does  have shelter over his head, food, etc. so we must protect Nigerians, we must protect Nigerians who are in   IDPs condition, we must  also protect ordinary citizens who are not IDPS

    Prof. Angwe stated: “We have agreed that on August 19 August 2015,  stakeholders in all the states will converge and  hold Stakeholders  meeting at the conference hall of NHRC in Abuja to discuss the challenges of the IDPS,  the states must put in place a mechanism that protects the 310 Centres  and NHRC has  monitors in the 10 states  mostly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    “This is not adequate a number to cover all the IDPS in these states, the commission has a  situation room, for all IDPs monitors  to transmit all their findings directly to NHRC so that we  cover and monitor development on IDP camps.

    “These are periodic assignments as they visit the IDPs  once or twice a week, this is not a situation this country is used to,  suicide bombing is alien to our culture. We need to send this dragon called suicide bombing  away from our society. We believe that one day God Almighty will put all these in a bottle and bottle up the dragon

    “We have IDPs in Abuja, Benin,  so, how many houses will the government rent in order to  meet the needs of these people in order to balance Human Rights with humanitarian needs. We are going to work with you and give support ;as it is a national problem, it  must be addressed and all institutions involved with conflict must stand up. NEMA  and the Human Rights Commission must collaborate to achieve great result

    “There is no job that is better than that of fighting for humanity because it has a direct reward from the creator. You find yourself a ticket and passport to eternity because no amount of money will  compensate for this selfless service”.

    Prof. Angwe praised the  DG NEMA for the waening signal he gave the country over floods,  “ we have  to be prepared so that we support the efforts of government in addressing this challenge. Assistance must be rendered in a coordinated manner” Prof. Angwe stated.

    In his speech, Alhaji Sidi thanked the commission and stated that they were on  a courtesy call to the  Executive Secretary and the commission

    He said: “NEMA is saddled with the responsibility of disaster management,Insurgency and Terrorism management is new to the agency though it is now a global phenomenon Thanks to Prof. Angwe  for his support and contributions to the Committee on National Disaster Management because of the threat of insurgency and terrorism, a  fact he felt he should come and brief the commission on.

    “The socio-economic activities in the affected states have been paralysed, more than 1.5 million people are currently displaced from the states. In Boronu, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue and other affected states”

    “NEMA has been responding to the needs of the displaced Nigerians and wants more presence of Commission’  staff in the formal camps where things are happening to enable Commission  get daily reports of what is happening,  especially as it relates to human rights,  your  presence in the camps  will strengthen the system we have in place” Alhaji. Sidi stated.

  • Photo: NEMA distribute kits to pregnant women

    Photo: NEMA distribute kits to pregnant women

    DIRECTOR-GENERAL, NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (NEMA), ALHAJI MUHAMMAD SIDI (R),PRESENTING DIGNITY KITS TO ONE OF THE PREGNANT IDPs WOMEN,MRS HABIBA MUHAMMAD, DURING THE PRESENTATION OF THE KITS TO 410 WOMEN IN BORNO ON WEDNESDAY WITH THEM ARE GOV.KASHIM SHETTIMA OF BORNO (2ND R) AND UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR AND UNDP RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE, MR DAOUDA TOURE
    DIRECTOR-GENERAL, NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (NEMA), ALHAJI MUHAMMAD SIDI (R),PRESENTING DIGNITY KITS TO ONE OF THE PREGNANT IDPs WOMEN,MRS HABIBA MUHAMMAD, DURING THE PRESENTATION OF THE KITS TO 410 WOMEN IN BORNO ON WEDNESDAY WITH THEM ARE GOV.KASHIM SHETTIMA OF BORNO (2ND R) AND UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR AND UNDP RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE, MR DAOUDA TOURE
    DIGNITY KITS PRESENTED TO 410 PREGNANT IDPs WOMEN BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (NEMA), ALHAJI MUHAMMAD SIDI IN BORNO STATE ON WEDNESDAY
    DIGNITY KITS PRESENTED TO 410 PREGNANT IDPs WOMEN BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (NEMA), ALHAJI MUHAMMAD SIDI IN BORNO STATE ON WEDNESDAY

  • Breaking: Helicopter crashes into Lagos lagoon

    A yet to be identified helicopter crashed into the Oworonsoki lagoon in Lagos about 35 minutes ago.

    The crash site, according to sources, is directly behind the palace of the Oba of Lagos.

    The number of casualty and cause of the mishap had not been ascertained

    Confirming the incidence, the southwest spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye, said, “It is true but NEMA has not receive distress alert from the chopper on its mission control centre yet.

    “We have Maritime Distress Alert only about a ship around Warri in Delta State, rescue agencies are on their way to the scene.”

  • Boko Haram: NEMA receives 10,000 Cameroon returnees

    Boko Haram: NEMA receives 10,000 Cameroon returnees

    • To evacuate 3,000 Borno residents

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received about 10,000 who fled to Cameroon from communities in Borno and Adamawa states.

    Speaking in Mubi while receiving the returnees, NEMA’s Director General, Alhaji Sani Sidi, said they were forced back after Cameroon closed the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Garoua.

    Sidi informed that they started arriving through the border post in Sahuda, Mubi South after being screened by the Nigerian Immigration Service and the Nigerian Army.

    The returnees, according to him, are part of the 13,800 from the Nigerian Immigration Service at the border post, out of which 650 have been transported to Borno State.

    The rest, he said, are still at Malkohi Internally Displaced Persons camp in Yola, Adamawa state.

    Also, about 3,000 Borno indigenes deported from Cameroon following Boko Haram attacks along the Gamboru axis are to be evacuated to Maiduguri.

    A statement by the zonal information officer of NEMA, Abdulkadir Ibrahim said Sidi and the Deputy Governor of Borno state, Alhaji Zanna Mustapha have already left for Mubi to facilitate the return.

    It reads: “The refugees are presently camped at the border of Nigeria and Cameroun. Over 2,000 IDPs have been transported to safer locations in Mubi while 600 of the refugees have been transported back to Borno.

    “3,000 refugees are still at the border undergoing registration formalities before relocation to Mubi for onward transportation back to Borno.”

  • NEMA to evacuate 3000 Nigerians from Cameroon

    About three thousand Borno indigenes deported from Cameroon following the Boko Haram crisis along the Gamboru axis are expected to be evacuated to Maiduguri, the State capital.
    The North East Zonal Coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Mohammed Kanar said the agency has completed arrangements for the repatriation of the Nigerian refugees from Borno state at the Shahuda Cameroonian border post in Adamawa state.
    The zonal information officer of NEMA, Abdulkadir Ibrahim on Saturday in a statement in Maiduguri said the Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji Sani Sidi and the Deputy Governor of Borno state, Alhaji Zanna Mustapha have already left for Mubi to facilitate the exercise.
    The statement read; “National Emergency Management Agency is working with the Borno state Government in transporting indigenes of Borno state who were displaced by insurgency and who were putting up in Cameroun.

    “The Director General of NEMA Alh Sani Sidi accompanied by Borno state Deputy Governor Alh Zanna Mustapha are in Mubi to bolster the operations on ground . The refugees are presently camped at the border of Nigeria and Cameroun. Over 2000 IDPs have been transported to safer locations in Mubi while 600 of the refugees have been transported back to Borno. 3000 refugees are still at the border undergoing registration formalities before relocation to Mubi for onward transportation back to Borno,” the statement said.
    The affected communities that fled to Cameron were from Gambouru, Banki, Kala/Balge and Mallam Fatori communities in Borno state after the Boko Haram attacks became fierce in the northern Borno axis.

  • Cameroon repatriating 12,000 Nigerians

    About 12,000 Nigerians are being repatriated over the next three to four days after seeking refuge in Cameroon over attacks by Boko Haram sect, the National Emergency Management Agency, said on Wednesday.

    NEMA spokesman, Manzo Ezekiel, said the returnees would be accommodated mainly in the town of Mubi in Adamawa State, close to the border.

    “We already cleared about 1,150 people but border officers projected that 12,000 people would be arriving,” Reuters quoted Ezekiel as saying on the issue.

    Cameroonian authorities expelled about 2,800 Nigerians over the weekend following a series of suicide bomb attacks in July.

    The six-year-old insurgency waged by Boko Haram to establish an Islamist state in the northeast of Nigeria has displaced around 1.5 million people internally and forced thousands to flee into neighbouring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

    A multi-national joint taskforce combining 8,700 troops from Nigeria and its neighbours is being set up in Chad’s capital N’Djamena to combat the militants.

    A similar-sized repatriation occurred in May from the Lake Chad islands in Niger when Nigerien authorities told residents, many of them Nigerians, to evacuate before military operations.

    About 25,000 people were forced to leave, sometimes brutally. Some died en route due to inadequate evacuation assistance.

  • PPMC, NEMA can’t access Arepo pipeline fire 48 hours after

    PPMC, NEMA can’t access Arepo pipeline fire 48 hours after

    Forty-eight hours after the System 2B pipeline exploded at Arepo, reportedly killing over 100 people, security operatives, rescue workers and other agencies were yet to access the scene of the incident, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    The facility went up in flames in the wee hours of Wednesday following a clash between oil thieves, who were scooping fuel.

    The development, it was gathered, was as a result of fear of being attacked by vandals who have laid siege to the area.

    But emergency workers yesterday, disclosed that the fire, which started at about midnight on Tuesday, stopped on its own after the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), shut supply to the pipeline.

    There was no official confirmation of the casualty figure as the various agencies declined to be categorical as at press time yesterday.

    Neither the police spokesman, Emmanuel Ojukwu, his Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) counterpart, Emmanuel Okey, nor the Southwest spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the Southwest, Ibrahim Farinloye could give definite statistics.

    Meanwhile, it was learnt yesterday that the victims, most of whom were Ijaw, have been buried in shallow graves in the swamp by vandals to cover their tracks.

    When contacted, Ojukwu said investigations were still ongoing and that no arrest had been made. He told The Nation that the police would investigate and arrest the culprits.

     In his response, Farinloye said that emergency workers would no longer go to the scene since the fire had stopped.

    He said: “It is no longer an emergency since the fire has gone off on its own. We no longer need to go to the place. It is now left for the NNPC to make the necessary security arrangement for their men to assess the damage and do necessary repairs. The government cannot confirm if there are casualties or not since they have not accessed the place.”

    It was learnt last night that the PPMC, NNPC and NEMA were mobilising to get access to the vandalised point. PPMC spokesman Nasir Imodagbe confirmed that the fire had been put out after supply was cut off to the pipeline line.

     “We are striving to access it to determine the extent of damage and level of casualty,” Imodagbe said.

    On when the PPMC men would move in, the spokesman  said: “Once we access the vandalised spot, we would assess the extent of damage; commence repairs immediately and restore supply to the pipeline as soon as reparation is completed. The spot of the explosion is about two kilometres away from the accessible area now because it is a difficult terrain but we are working assiduously to access it.”

  • NEMA unites 5,000 families in Adamawa, Borno

    NEMA unites 5,000 families in Adamawa, Borno

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Thursday said it had united 5,000 families in Adamawa and Borno following the liberation of some communities from Boko Haram insurgents in the North East.

    Alhaji Sani Sidi, the Director-General, NEMA, disclosed this while presenting relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) returnees in Uba, Adamawa..

    Sidi said the integration programme was initiated by the agency to support displaced persons, who returned to their various villages.

    Sidi, represented by Alhaji Sa’ad Bello, NEMA camp coordinator in Adamawa, said the agency would provide necessary assistance to the returnees in parts of the affected states.

    He said some of the displaced persons who fled their villages in Mubi North, Mubi South and Maiha Local Government Areas of Adamawa had returned to their respective villages.

    Others who returned, according to him, are from Lassa, Mussa, Dille, Uba,Muthavu and Husare Tampul villages in Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno.

    The Director-General said the agency would continue to render assistance to the returnees with building materials and other facilities to enable then settle down.

    The Secretary, Askira-Uba Local Government Area, Alhaji Sanusi Bello, thanked the Federal Government for the gesture and assured that the materials would reach the affected returnees.

    He called on philanthropists and non-governmental organizations to emulate NEMA.

  • NEMA donates drugs for treatment of Onitsha fire victims

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has donated drugs valued at millions of naira to hospitals where victims of the Onitsha tanker fire are receiving treatment.

    Presenting the drugs, NEMA’s Director-General, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Sidi explained that the gesture was aimed at assisting the Doctors in saving the lives of the survivors.

    Represented by the Director of Relief, Mr. Eugene Eze, Sidi said: “We want to encourage the hospitals with these drugs and medical consumables for the speedy recovery of the victims.

    “NEMA Sympathises with the victim’s families, we share their pains and commend Doctors for their efforts”.

    Others at the presentation were the Southeast coordinator, Major James Eze and his Southwest counterpart, Dr. Bandele Onimode, and Executive Director, Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (ASEMA), Chief Paul Odenigbo.

    Some the benefiting hospitals include Menax, Toronto, Bex and General Hospitals.

    The team also visited Governor Willie Obiano where the governor stressed the need for state governments in the Southeast to strengthen their various emergency boards.

    The Governor appealed to the Federal Government to provide fire-fighting trucks and equipment to help avert deaths resulting from tanker accidents.

    He assured the people that the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) will cooperate with the Federal Government to help the victims.