By Eze Nkechi
Director General NEMA Mrs Zubaida Umar today received Mr Trond Jensen, the UNOCHA Nigeria Head of Office, at NEMA headquarters.
Mr Jensen who was on a courtesy visit, during his speech, said the visit was to reaffirm the commitment of UNOCHA to partner with NEMA in the areas of disaster management in Nigeria.
Responding, DG NEMA Mrs Zubaida Umar appreciated the commitment of UNOCHA and expressed confidence in the sustenance and strengthening of the existing partnership between the two organizations towards achieving their mandates.
She also highlighted some of her plans for flood early preparations in a proactive approach to mitigate and respond to the disaster this year.
“As we continue to face up to constantly evolving threats and emergencies in Nigeria and beyond, the importance of our partnership cannot be overstated. In this regard, I am confident that today’s visit will enable us to strengthen our existing partnerships and explore new areas of mutual support and collaboration. With the rainy season fast approaching, NEMA is putting in place modalities to mitigate the impacts of flooding across Nigeria through the development of early warning alerts in line with the Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) recently released by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and public sensitization on precautionary measures to avert the impacts of floods and associated hazards.
“In this regard, we have planned to convene an expert meeting to analyze the SCP to develop strategies for saving lives and safeguarding livelihoods in the event of floods during the rainy season. Other lined-up flood disaster mitigating activities will soon be rolled out by NEMA during our upcoming Emergency Coordination Forum (ECF) meeting, Mrs Umar said
The Director of Planning Research and Forecasting Dr Onimode Bandele Abdullahi, in a welcome remark, highlighted some of the partnership programmes and activities between NEMA and UNOCHA.
