Nigerian lawmakers have held a meeting with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to enable the lawmakers understand how they can assist the agency in ensuring proper disaster control and management.
After the retreat organised for members of the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness by the NEMA in Lagos State, the chairman of the committee, Ifedayo Abegunde told reporters that the agency would do better if it was properly funded.
“The government should make funds available for the emergency unit to send their staff abroad for capacity building. If adequate money is available, they could do better. Enough money should also be appropriated to handling of emergency situations. If not they won’t be able to do their work well,” Abegunde stated.
The retreat was organised to enable the lawmakers and the staff of the agency share ideas on how disaster could be well managed in Nigeria.
At the gathering, the emergency unit was trained on how to understand disaster and emergency situations by Soji Adeniyi of the UN office in Nigeria.
The need for the establishment of a functional State and Local Governments emergency management agencies was also considered, as it is the first state towards reducing the risks associated with emergency and disaster.