The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs Zubaida Umar has directed that all newly acquired Search and Rescue equipment and consumables for NEMA zonal and operation offices should be deployed with immediate effect as part of preparation for the 2024 rainy season in addition to other disasters in Nigeria.
According to a press release signed by the NEMA Head of Press Unit, Manzo Ezekiel said that some of the equipment to be deployed include mobile water purification equipment, mobile incident command vehicles, incident response vehicles, life jackets and other lifesaving gadgets currently staged at the NEMA warehouse and other storage locations in Abuja.
Mrs Umar gave the directive today in Abuja during an inspection visit to NEMA warehouses to ascertain the Agency’s relief stockpiles and operational equipment. The visit was the first as she recently assumed office as Director General of NEMA.
She emphasized the imperative of timely response to disasters, noting that this can only be achieved through proactive measures that include the prepositioning of equipment and training of personnel that will operate the lifesaving assets in the event of sudden onset disasters across Nigeria.
Similarly, she directed that there should be regular stocktaking of relief items in NEMA warehouses nationwide including dates of expiry for timely deployment to persons in need in the event of emergency.
