The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NEMA

  • NEMA donates relief materials to flood victims

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has donated relief materials worth millions of naira to victims of last year’s flood disaster at Yaba community in Abaji Area Council.

    Among the items donated were mattresses, bags of beans, buckets, mats, kegs of vegetable oil, bags of garri, bundles of zinc, bags of nail, cartons of zinc nail, bags of rice, bags of cement, mosquito-treated nets and kegs of red oil.

    While presenting the items to the victims at the palace of Etsu of Yaba, the Director-General of NEMA in the FCT, Alhaji Abbas G. Idris, said the donation of the relief items aimed at cushioning the hardship experienced by those affected by the flood victim which wreaked havoc in the community.

    He said various communities in Kwali and Gwagwalada area councils have also suffered from flood last year, but Yaba community in Abaji Area Council was the worst hit, which he said NEMA decided to accord priority in assisting those that were affected.

    “I want to tell you honestly that Yaba community in Abaji Area Council received much attention not because the community is special, but because of the pressure the council chairman, Alhaji Yahaya Garba and the Etsu of Yaba, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, mounted on us to ensure that the affected areas are considered, “ he said.

    Also speaking, the council chairman, Alhaji Yahaya Garba Gawu, commended the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, and the FCT NEMA for donating the relief materials to flood victims.

    He said his administration was determined to continue to give priority to the welfare of residents of the council, while urging residents of the community to avoid building houses at the river bank.

    “It is high time you people understood with the short fall in the country’s oil price, things were not as before where government will always come to assist. I am advising those who always build houses close to the river bank to desist from such,” he said.

    On his part, the Etsu of Yaba, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, expressed concern over the deplorable condition of the road linking Dangara Junction with Yaba Village, even as he appealed to the FCT Minister to come to the aid of residents of the community by rehabilitating the road.

    “Also the road from Yaba to neighbouring Kpache community which was under construction is in progress, but the contractor is handicapped since he has neither been paid take-off grant nor mobilisation fee. He has been suffering with his workers in silence because the loan he took from the bank had been yielding interest,” he said.

    The monarch commended the effort of NEMA and the FCT Administration for coming to the aid of those affected by the flood at the community.

  • NEMA gives relief materials to Nigerian refugees in Niger Republic

    NEMA gives relief materials to Nigerian refugees in Niger Republic

    The National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA) has delivered 540 metric tonnes of  assorted relief  items approved by the Federal Government  to Nigerian refugees in the Republic of Niger.

    They are taking shelter in  various locations in the Diffa region, having been displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    A statement by NEMA spokesman Sani Datti, said the items, which included food and non-food items, were meant to provide succour to Nigerian refugees and were handed over to the governor of Diffa Region for  onward distribution to the beneficiaries.

  • Abuja IDPs warned against selling materials

    Abuja IDPs warned against selling materials

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been warned against selling the materials given to them by the Federal Government.

    The Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Ishaya Chonoko, spoke yesterday at Durumi, in the outskirts of the FCT, at the agency’s distribution of branded materials.

    The NEMA chief said the move was to prevent non-IDPs from impersonating genuine displaced persons, who might sell the items in the market.

    He said: “Contrary to speculation that the NEMA-branded materials is aimed at IDPs, who the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has planned to issue with the permanent voter cards (PVCs) to vote for a particular candidate, is not true. The branded materials are meant to stop the products from being diverted to the market for sales.

    “We branded the materials because a lot of non-internally displaced persons, who had settled in Abuja before this incident, take the shared materials to the market for sale.

    “As you can see, the product is clearly marked ‘Not For Sale’. So, anybody selling these ones in the market should be reported to the appropriate authority because they are clearly tagged ‘Not For Sale’.

    “Some of the branded materials distributed include 25 litres of groundnut oil, packs of tomato paste, packs of soap, a number of plastic buckets, bags of rice, beans, millet, guinea corn and salt.”

  • NEMA, FRSC warn drivers against overloading

    NEMA, FRSC warn drivers against overloading

    THE Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have warned motorists against overspeeding and overloading to ensure an accident-free  Christmas celebration today.

    But the FRSC has started arresting drivers of overloaded vehicles.

    Speaking at the Operation Eagle Eye organised by National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on  Kaduna-Abuja highway, representative of FRSC Kaduna Zonal Commander, Ibrahim Sarki Abubakar, cautioned against over-speeding during the festive season.

    “We are happy that NEMA always stand by us by helping us to sensitise the people, particularly motorists, against over-speeding  and overloading. These are among the major factors causing accidents on our major roads.

    “We have already started arresting defaulting drivers because we want to have accident-free Christmas season. We commend NEMA for their support,” Abubakar said

    Earlier, NEMA Zonal Coordinator North-West Zone Musa Ilallah said the operation was aimed at showing support for activities of FRSC, especially during the Christmas season.

  • Synagogue: NEMA, LASEMA not prevented from rescue operations – Witness

    Synagogue: NEMA, LASEMA not prevented from rescue operations – Witness

    The Lagos coroner heard on Tuesday that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) were given unfettered access to carry out rescue operations during the September 12 building collapse at the Synagogue Church of All Nations.

    Synagogue’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), Sunday Okogie, made this known at the resumed sitting of the coroner inquest into the incident.

    Okogie told the coroner court presided by Chief Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe that no member of the church stopped or prevented NEMA and LASEMA officials from rescuing people trapped under the collapsed guest house.

    The CSO, who submitted the unedited Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footages of the incident from September 12 to September 16 told the court that the recordings contradicted the claims of the agencies that members of the church were hostile and prevented them from accessing the collapsed building site.

    Okogie pointed out that both agencies arrived at the church about an hour after the building collapsed and gained access to the scene in less than a minute.

    “My Lord, on the first day of the incident, as you can see, nobody prevented them from entering into the compound. But as you can see from the video, LASEMA came with only one bus and no heavy duty equipment as they claimed before this court.

    “The same thing happened with NEMA. They came ill-equipped for the job of digging out those who were trapped under the rubbles.”

    Okogie further told the court that NEMA and LASEMA officials left the church at about 05:45pm, when several persons were still trapped.

  • Nigeria has 850,000 IDPs at relief camps, says NEMA

    Nigeria has 850,000 IDPs at relief camps, says NEMA

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has disclosed that there are currently 850 thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the various relief camps across the country.

    NEMA’s Northwest Coordinator  Abdullahi Mohammed made spoke in Lagos during an emergency and disaster preparedness retreat organised for members of the House of Representatives Committee on NEMA.

    He said there are over 850,000 IDPs in 31 camps across the country, with 20 of the camps filled with people from the northeast, who have been displaced by the activities of Boko Haram terrorists.

    Mohammed said the statistics was compiled on Tuesday, just as he stated that the agency is mopping up IDPs in other states, who fled from neighbouring northeastern states.

    “We have them in Kano, Kaduna, FCT, Plateau and Nasarawa. So, we are mopping them and gathering them in all established camps to establish their numbers and give them appropriate care they require as citizens,” he said.

    Asked the plans NEMA has for the reintegration of the IDPs, Mohammed said reintegrating the affected persons was not an immediate issue as a result of the insurgency.

    “It is a gradual process because their homes have been burnt and they have lost all their belongings. So, what the government is working on is relocation and it is not something that will come immediately.

    “Both federal and state governments as well as private organizations and international partners are working towards that. It is a joint effort to ensure that these persons are properly settled in their respective places of domain or relocated so that they can continue with their normal lives.

    “They major challenge NEMA has had in handling the IDPs is movement. These are people who are not used to sitting down in one place and also, once they find any threats in their surroundings, where the camps are situated, they flee the camps for fear of their lives.

    “The country has adequate relief camps. Everybody is involved including all other sectors of government. We are doing everything possible to provide succour for the IDPs. Everything thing is being done to ensure they are adequately catered for. Funding is not NEMA’s challenge, but our challenge is how to get the IDPs to settle back in their normal lives,” said Mohammed.

    Also speaking, Chairman, House Committee on NEMA, Ifedayo Abegunde said the committee will take steps towards the amendment of the NEMA Act to enable the agency function optimally.

    Using the situation in Diamond Estate, Igando, where people build houses near the pipelines contrary to established laws, Abegunde said it was obvious other stakeholder agencies, who are supposed to enforce these laws, have failed in their responsibilities.

    He frowned at the report of people erecting structures under high tension cables and beside pipelines, calling on NEMA to intensify its awareness campaigns so that people will understand the dangers associated with such actions.

    Abegunde said he wants a proactive NEMA, not one that is reactive, just as he appealed to other state governments to emulate Lagos and establish State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA).

    Noting that the source of funds for NEMA does not only come through the budget, Abegunde said the agency has direct access to Ecological Fund, from which they carry out emergency response.

    “They have purchased several equipment-aircraft, air ambulances- that I know of and that did not go through the National Assembly. They have direct access to the Ecological Fund which is under the Vice President. The only thing they cannot use that they cannot use that money for is training,” he said.

    In his presentation, the Emergency Manager, UNICEF, Nigeria, Soji Adeniyi said the country ranked seven in a recent survey of countries with highest rate of internal displacement.

    He said NEMA should be empowered to command some level of control on other line ministries in order for the agency to perform optimally, just as he advocated the need for an amendment of the NEMA Act, to empower the agency perform certain roles.

    Adeniyi noted that lack of a credible data base and information management, relief agency syndrome, weak legislation and poorly funded SEMAs were among the challenges bedeviling effective emergency management in the country.

    Adeniyi said: “Statutorily, NEMA should be in a position that whoever heads the agency should be at par with a Minister so that he can call other line ministries to order and get them to do the things that should be done in an emergency.

  • NEMA recovers diverted materials in Gombe

    NEMA recovers diverted materials in Gombe

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has recovered materials allegedly diverted by a transporter in Gombe State and distributed them directly to victims of windstorm in Bangoba community of Kakara in Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State.

    NEMA’s Director-General Muhammad Sani-Sidi has also constituted a committee to investigate the alleged diversion and unravel likely internal collaboration for the action.

    He said appropriate measures and sanctions should be taken against the culprits.

    Addressing the beneficiary community in Taraba after distributing the materials, NEMA’s Assistant Director (Training) Iyiola Akande said there was an attempted diversion of relief items.

    But he said the materials were successfully intercepted by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) following a tip-off.

    The NEMA chief said the prime suspect, who was the transporter, was under investigation.

    Akande said: “It is difficult to divert materials from NEMA because beneficiary states do receive advance copies of the list of items before the arrival of the trucks.”

  • NEMA seeks new approach to disaster management

    NEMA seeks new approach to disaster management

    THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has canvassed a new approach to management of natural and man-made disasters.

    Its Head of Ekiti State Operations Office, Mr. Saheed Akiode, made the call yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, at a one-day workshop on “Building Community Resilience as a Sustainable Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction”.

    One of the new measures he identified is the Community-based Early Warning System which, according to him, alerts the public with the information needed to act in a timely and appropriate manner to avoid disasters.

    Akiode explained that experiences in the last two or three decades had indicated the need for a paradigm shift from relief supplies to disaster risk reduction.

    The NEMA chief reiterated the agency’s commitment towards building capacities of stakeholders in disaster management through sensitisation workshop, training and retraining, simulation exercises and improved level of readiness.

    He urged the stakeholders to continue to collaborate with one another, describing disaster management as multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary and multi-resource, “which has no holiday”.

  • NEMA presents materials to Mubi IDPs

    NEMA presents materials to Mubi IDPs

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) at the weekend donated food items to internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Mubi, Adamawa State, who ran to Kaduna State when insurgents took over their town some days ago.

    It was learnt that 56 IDPs, mostly women and children, took refuge at Rigasa, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis.

    The items given to them were blankets, rice, sugar, soap, buckets, cups and mattresses.

    Others are: detergent, palm oil, beverages, noodles, mosquito nets, vegetable oil, table water and mats.

    Addressing the IDPs in front of Malam Niga Rehabilitation and Skill Acquisition Centre at Rigasa, NEMA’s Northwest Zonal Coordinator Musa Ilallah said the agency responded to the need of the IDPs immediately it got a report on their predicament.

    Ilallah said: “We came here immediately we heard the news of your coming here. As an agency, we decided to bring to you the little assistance we could to reduce some of your difficulties. We feel you needed assistance; this is why we are here.

    “We also have other people in other parts of the state. We are trying to locate them. The moment we find them, we will go to see them.”

    Some of the IDPs expressed satisfaction with NEMA’s response, saying they never expected it from the agency.

    Also, NEMA’s Head of Relief and Rehabilitation, Dahiru Yusuf, said the affected children were mostly 10-year-olds.

    He said the items would be shared equally among them.

  • Adamawa attack: 10,496 IDPs in five camps

    About 10,496 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are staying in five camps in Yola South and Fufore, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency have said.

    Many IDPs are still trooping into Yola, the state capital, following attacks on their communities by the Boko Haram sect.

    Five women were delivered of babies in the camps.

    In a statement, NEMA’s Director-General Muhammad Sani Sidi said the agency would continue to establish more camps and provide basic needs for the displaced persons.

    Sidi said: “The agency has delivered adequate relief materials to all established camps in the state and the new one would be provided with tents. An advanced team, led by the Director of Relief and Rehabilitation, Eugene Ezeh, has been sent to assess the situation and take action to bring succour to the displaced people.”

    Governor Bala Ngilari said the government had sent out vehicles to evacuate thousands of displaced persons scattered around Mubi and in Cameroon.

    Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development Hajiya Zainab Maina sympathised with the IDPs.

    She said President Goodluck Jonathan assigned her to assess the situation and assured them of his continuous support until they return home.

    The camps are in Dawarei, Girei, Malkwohi, Nyako Housing Estate, NYSC camp and COCIN Church. Relief materials provided at the camps include drugs, rice, clothes, mattresses, maize, buckets, mats, soap, towel, cooking oil and sanitary items.