Mr. Ahmed Habib, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has appealed to the Jigawa Government to set aside ”predictable” funds for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs).
Habib made the appeal when he visited Gov. Muhammad Badaru in Dutse on Tuesday.
He said that the funds will assist SEMA and LEMCs to render swift intervention and response.
The director-general lauded the state government for being the first to take disaster risk management to the grassroots by establishing LEMCs across the 27 Local Government Areas.
“I’m sure the good people of Jigawa have started benefiting from that laudable action of the state government, hence, I want to appeal to Your Excellency to set aside predictable funding to SEMA and LEMCs across all the council areas for timely intervention in saving lives and safeguard livelihoods whenever disaster hits.
“As we always say; disasters are always local, the life first responders are always local. Furthermore, disasters have become part and parcel of life and we must learn to mitigate them, reduce their impact, transfer losses through insurance, and learn to live with them in extreme cases,” the director-general said.
He assured the government of the agency’s continued support to SEMA in areas of capacity building, relief intervention, and the sharing of disaster response assets.
“Not long ago, we invited the Executive Secretary, Jigawa SEMA for a one-week training program and incident management system in Abuja.
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“We’ll soon invite SEMA for a high-level International Disaster Management Training organized by the Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre (BUDMC),” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Habib was in the state to hand over additional food and non-food items to Jigawa Government for onward distribution to flood victims in the state.
The items include 15,650 of 10kg bags of rice, 14,450 of 10kg bags of beans, 12,550 of 10kg bags of maize, 1,750 20lts of vegetable oil, 1,170 cartons of seasoning cubes, 400 cartons of tin tomato, 24,900 pieces of nylon mat and 6,500 pieces of mosquito nets.
Others are: 6,500 pieces of guinea brocade, 7,000 pieces of children wear, 4,000 pieces of men and women wear each, 125 bags of salt, 7,500 bags of cement, 5,600 bundles of roofing sheets, 1,200 pieces of 3inc nail and 1,500 pieces of zinc nail.
Also, 8,900 pieces of blankets, 700 pieces of mattresses, 1,200 pieces of wax print, and 2,900 pieces of ceiling board.
Receiving the items, the governor, represented by his Deputy, Malam Umar Namadi, said that over 222,000 people were affected by the disaster, among which 76,000 were displaced, while 124 others lost their lives.
The governor, who commended the agency for the gesture, assured that the items would be distributed to the targeted victims.
