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January 2012
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Abuja
DG Office Headquarters
No 8, Adetokumbo Ademola Crescent, Maitama, Abuja
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North East
Aliyu B. Sambo Zonal Coordinator
Medical Store Premises nemaborno@yahoo.com Off Auno Street, Baga Road Maiduguri, Borno State
North Central Alhassan Danjuma Aliyu
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Dr. Onimode A. Bandele Zonal Coordinator
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Umesi Emenike Zonal Coordinator
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NEWSLETTER
A Publication of the National Emergency Management Agency PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Alhaji Muhammad Sani Sidi DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Alhassan Nuhu MANAGING EDITOR: Yushau Shuaib ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Tony Ephraim SUB-EDITOR: Manzo Ezekiel PRODUCTION EDITOR: Sani Datti CAMERAMAN: Gerald Oparachukwu CIRCULATION: Nuhu Mohammed
EDITORIAL ADVISER: Innocent Adikwu
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Industrial Disasters must be Avoided - NEMA South West Page 1 NEMA Trains 800 Students in Disaster Risk Reduction Page 2
Vol.4 No.1
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HE National Emergency Management Agenc y (NEMA) sensitises manufacturers in Ogun and Lagos states on the danger of industrial pollution, with a view to preventing industrial disaster. Mr. Iyiola Akande, South West Zonal Coordinator of NEMA stated this in Lagos, that such sensitisation workshop is part of the activities mapped out by the agency this year. He said the workshop became necessary in order to avoid industrial pollution like lead poison, which occurred last year in Zamfara. ‘We want to carry out more seminars and training workshop for manufacturing industries in Ogun and Lagos states, because it is their social responsibilities to make sure that the environment, in which they are operating, is conducive for human
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habitation; it’s not just a matter of making money and not giving back to the society’, he said. He added that the agency will ‘partner Ogun State Emergency Management Ag e n c y, L a g o s S t a t e E m e rg e n c y Management Agency (LASEMA), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the rest of them, in order to identify hazards that could occur in their production processes and to check their own level of preparedness against industrial disaster. Akande explained that sometime ago gases and other substances were emitted into the atmosphere, in some parts of Kano, adding that what the agency wants to do is to ‘make sure that such does not occur again. You know, Lagos environment is highly industrialized’. He also expressed worry over incessant
NEMA Officials Escape Mob Attack In Ebonyi ...call For Peaceful Co-existence Page 3
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NEMA Trains 1,600 Volunteers on Emergency Handling Page 6 NEMA Receives Another Group of 115 Returnees from Libya Page 6 NEMA Alerts Niger Deltans on Excessive Rains, Windstorms Page 7
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All correspondences should be addressed to: Press and Public Relations Unit, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, No. 8, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Maitama, Abuja. Email: nemapress@yahoo.com
January 2012
INDUSTRIAL DISASTERS MUST BE AVOIDED - NEMA SOUTH WEST
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Mr. Lugard Slaku
NEMA Press and Public Relations Unit
0803 340 1017
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Godwin Tapico Assistant Zonal Coordinator South-South
Abuja Operation Office
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NEMA
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Innocent Ezeorah Ezeaku Assistant Zonal Coordinator (South East)
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Adebiyi Babatunde Razaq, Assistant Zonal Coordinator (South West)
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No 15 Wurno Road Unguwan Sarki, Kaduna
Abubakar . Hamidu Alkali Assistant Zonal Coordinator (North West)
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nemaplateau@yahoo.com
Abdusalsalam Muhd Assistant Zonal Coordinator (North Central)
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Direct Labour Compound Vom Road, Jos Plateau State
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nemapress@yahoo.com (For Press Release/ Features)
Ibrahim Farinloye Assistant Zonal Coordinator (North East)
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Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi briefing the media
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NEMA TRAINS 800 STUDENTS IN DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
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ver eight hundred secondary school children from forty-two selected secondary schools across Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Taraba States have been trained in disaster risk management by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, disaster risk management. While declaring the training open, the Director General of NEMA, Alh. Muhammad Sani Sidi expressed optimism that the training of the children would help save lives and prevent injuries should a hazardous event occur. Alhaji Sani-Sidi further stated that the training would help to reduce undue interruptions to the provision of education or ensure its swift resumption in the event of an interruption and develop a resilient population that is able to reduce the economic, social and cultural impacts should a disaster occur. The Director-General, according to a s t a t e m e n t b y N E MA’s Zo n a l Information Officer, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, pointed out that education on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) takes into account the relationships between society, environment, economy, and culture and their impacts, in addition to promoting critical thinking and problem-solving as well as social and emotional life skills that are essential to the empowerment of groups threatened or affected by disasters. Ac c o rd i n g t o h i m , “r a i s i n g awareness within school communities involves building a culture of prevention and making school building safer. But they all involve school children, teachers and non-academic s t a f f a n d, i n s o m e c a s e s, t h e surrounding communities. “In the years to come, children’s vulnerability due to disasters is expected to increase. The impact of global warming is expected to result in up to 175 million children every year being affected by disasters brought
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about by climate change. Increasing children and families’ resilience and reducing their vulnerability to disasters are imperative to building a better world for children now and in future”, he said. The DG said, the agency is of the firm belief that all children and youths have the right to take part in decisions affecting their lives, stressing that the DRR in Schools will help millions of children learn about their rights and take active role in their communities’ development; encourage children and
youth to speak out about issues that affect them including domestic violence, health, education and more as well as deliver programs that reach the most marginalized and vulnerable groups. Resource persons that trained the children were drawn from the State Emergency Management Agencies, Nigerian Red Cross Society, Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, NYSC/NEMA Emergency Management Vanguards (NYSC/NEMA EMV) Ministries of Health and Environment.
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January 2012
NEMA OFFICIALS ESCAPE MOB ATTACK IN EBONYI ...call for peaceful co-existence
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he officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) who went to Ezillo in Ebonyi to donate relief materials to the victims of the New Year clashes narrowly escaped mob attack. The team, headed by Dr Bamdele Onimode, the agency’s South-East Zonal Coordinator, had donated relief materials to the community and proceeded to the Federal Medical Centre, Abakaliki, to visit some of the victims. The irate villagers blocked the road leading to Enugu from the medical centre and refused the NEMA officials’ vehicles passage. The villagers, who wielded machetes, guns and sticks, were poised for confrontation with the police. One of the villagers said on Wednesday that the incident followed the arrest of one of them by the police deployed to the community. ``We will not allow any car to cross this road until the police release our arrested member. ``We do not need the items donated to us by NEMA again; we will cause problem here if our man is not released because we have only few survivors left in our community.’’ The villagers refused to open up the road even after their leaders had
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appealed to them to let go of the NEMA team. The team had to take an alternative route leading to the main road after a volunteer helped them out Meanwhile the National Emergency Management Agency ( N E MA) a n d t h e E b o ny i St ate Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) have called for peaceful coexistence among the people of Ezillo and Ezza communities in Ebonyi. Presenting relief material to victims of the New Year eve communal conflict in Ezillo, the South- East Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Dr Bandele Onimode, said peace was necessary for the development of the area. No fewer than 60 persons were feared dead during the attack by some unknown persons in the area. Onimode, however, appealed to the victims of the crisis to avoid retaliation and put themselves together as they could achieve greater things with hard work, adding that the agency would re-assess the situation in due course. ``As at the time when others were preparing for the New Year, members of your community were being ushered into grave yards and hospitals. It is really unfortunate and we pray God that this will be the end of the crisis in
this community. ``To the affected community, do not think of retaliation, only God can retaliate on your behalf and as you live in peace within yourselves and your neighbours, you just discover that whoever wants to do mischief will naturally go down the drain. ``It is our own belief in NEMA that instead of bringing relief items always, we should be thinking of developmental projects in your community.’’ In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Ebonyi SEMA, Mr Igboke Umunna, applauded NEMA for the prompt attention to the crisis. The Coordinator of Ishielu Development Centre, Mr Lawson Edeh, urged the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the communal clash believed to be fuelled by politicians. ``So, what we are calling is that the Federal Government should come and look into this matter, assist the state government to end the crisis.’’ Bags of rice, garri, cartons of bathing soap, sleeping mats, blankets, mosquito nets, as well as gallons of vegetable and red oil were among the relief material donated to the community by NEMA and the National Commission for Refugees.
...INDUSTRIAL DISASTERS MUST BE AVOIDED
building collapse, especially in Lagos area, adding that NEMA would focus on sensitising stakeholders, to get to the root causes of building collapse with a view to proffering lasting solution. ‘There is incessant building collapse in Lagos State and we want to collaborate with the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, the Builders, Ministry of Physical Planning, Surveyors, and Engineers, on what solutions to stem the incidence of building collapse’, he said. He reiterated that the agency had about four major incidents during the year that just ended, ‘so we don’t want such occurrences again and we want to look at the root causes of building collapse in Lagos’. ‘If some buildings have decayed, we want to draw the
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attention of government to them, so that they should evacuate the people and, at least, bring those houses down, to make way for new ones under the Urban Renewal Scheme of the State Ministry of Environment’. Akande also said that the agency would sensitise residents on the dangers of market fire and stressed the need for them to insure their markets, particularly in Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states. ‘We shall take our sensitisation workshop on market fire to Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states this year. We want to inform traders in major markets on the need for insurance, so that if it (fire) happens, they would not loose everything totally’, he said.
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NEMA IN ACTION
A Special Delegation from NEMA and National Assembly visit scenes of Bomb Explosions in Kaduna and victims of the disaster. Below are pictures from the visits.
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Vol. 4 No.1
January 2012
NEMA IN ACTION
A Special Delegation from NEMA and National Assembly visit scenes of Bomb Explosions in Kaduna and victims of the disaster. Below are pictures from the visits.
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avoid making costly mistakes. “When a road accident occurs, the people around the scene would want to assist but might not know the proper way to handle it. “If you don’t know how to treat someone that has spinal cord injury, for instance, you can damage him for life.” Akande said the volunteers were trained in first aid to be able to render service to accident victims.
He said that the GEMVC was one of the series of programmes of the agency, aimed at ensuring quick response to emergencies. “A p a r t f ro m o u r s c h e d u l e d programme, there are so many things that we are doing to mitigate the effects of disaster because emergencies and disasters do not give any notice before occurring.
NEMA RECEIVES ANOTHER GROUP OF 115 RETURNEES FROM LIBYA
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he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) recently in Lagos received another group of 115 returnees from Libya. They comprise men and women who arrived at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja in a Boeing 737 special flight from Tripoli, some without any luggage. N E M A ’s S o u t h - W e s t Z o n a l Coordinator, Mr Iyiola Akande, said shortly after their arrival, that their evacuation was due to the Federal Government’s commitment to the safety of its nationals. “With support from the International Organisation of Migration (IOM), NEMA is receiving another batch of 115 returnees from Libya. “We have received the first batch of 161 returnees and we expect another batch any moment from now. “NEMA is currently concerning itself with how best to integrate these young Nigerians into their communities because they are traumatised. We just have to be our brother’s keeper,” he said. Akande said the returnees were “well received” by NEMA, which paid each of them a transport allowance to enable them to travel back to their
various communities. The NEMA official who recounted the ordeals the young people had forced themselves into, advised them to seek early re-integration into their families and communities. The returnees were then conveyed in three buses to Jibowu for their
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January 2012
NEMA ALERTS NIGER DELTANS ON EXCESSIVE RAINS, WINDSTORMS
NEMA TRAINS 1,600 VOLUNTEERS ON EMERGENCY HANDLING he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has trained 1,600 youths as Grassroots Emergency Management Volunteer Corps (GEMVC) for quick response to disasters at the grassroots. Mr Iyiola Akande, the South-West Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, stated this recently in Lagos; “This is to ensure that as first responders, when emergencies happen, they know what to do so as to
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he National Emergency M anagement Agenc y has warned residents of the Niger Delta to be cautious of severe rain pattern and windstorms expected in the area. The agency’s South-South Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Umesi Emenike, gave the warning in Port-Harcourt. According to him, this year’s prediction by the Nigeria Metrological Agency shows that there would be severe rain and wind storms during the rainy season, particularly in the coastal communities. Emenike said the rain started early this year with some related disasters, and that it had become necessary to educate the public of the dangers of such disasters. “These disasters have started occurring early this year. We have had wind/rainstorms and flooding in Lagos and windstorm twice in Cross River State. “ We think that with the predictions that there will be more severe windstorms and rainstorms this year by NIMET, there is need for us to prepare against such eventualities. “We have even started sending out warnings
from th e Fe deral M i n i s t r y o f Environment to the various states about severe rainfall this year”, he said. He said the agency had plans to establish Disaster Risk Reduction Clubs in various schools in the zone in this first
quarter. “We have started sending messages across on the dangers of the disasters in collaboration with the grass roots, using Emergency Management Vanguards by the National Youth Service Corps,” he added.
onward journeys to their various communities. Some of the returnees recounted their experiences in Libya amidst tears, saying that many of them were only released from prisons the same day they arrived in Nigeria.
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