NEMA, UN strengthen disaster management, mitigation

TNational Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA) and United Nations Office on Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( UNOCHA) have strengthened disaster management and mitigation efforts in Nigeria.

NEMA Director General, Zubaida Umar, announced at a meeting with UNOCHA Head of Office, Nigeria, Trond Jensen, yesterday in Abuja.

She said the pact “signifies the strong partnership between our organisations in the shared mission of disaster and emergency preparedness, response and relief support to persons in need.”

Umar explained that right from its inception, the UN humanitarian agency has been a strong ally of NEMA in the resolve to effectively manage emergencies.

She continued: “It is, therefore, my belief that there is no better time than now to strengthen our mutual support and collaboration as part of our renewed commitment to providing timely response to multiple disasters, crises and emergencies across Nigeria in line with our mandates.

“It is on record that we have worked tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of people affected by disasters, and to build the resilience of communities in Nigeria to enable them to develop their capacity for adaptation to ongoing and emerging hazards. “This we have done through the improvement of our early warning systems, sensitisation and awareness campaigns, development and review of plans and policies, regular stakeholders’ engagement and prepositioning of relief materials for deployment in the event of sudden onset disasters.”

On his part, Jensen said as partners, they would seek solutions to disaster management and mitigation for effectiveness and efficiency.

He said: “The world that we are living in is changing rapidly, lots of interesting changes and challenges in terms of humanitarian intervention.

“This means we have to find solutions as we implement actions and how to mitigate the impact before it happens.”