VALEDICTORY SPEECH BY MUHAMMAD SANI SIDI, OFR OUTGOING DIRECTOR GENERAL, NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (NEMA) AT THE HANDING OVER TO THE NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL ON MONDAY, 3RD APRIL, 2017
PROTOCOL
It is with utmost gratitude to Almighty God; most beneficial and most merciful, that I address you on the occasion of handing over of mantle of leadership of this agency to my brother; Engineer Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja, who has been appointed by His Excellency, the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
I remain indebted to God Almighty, for the opportunity to serve my fatherland over the last six and the half years. I also remain grateful to Mr President for deeming me fit serve as the head of the nation’s foremost emergency management agency. This is indeed one of the many divine favours, I cannot dare deny.
Over the years, we have built on the successes of our predecessors who led the agency at inception. In line with global best practice, we made deliberate efforts to shift from disaster response to mitigation and risk reduction towards effective disaster management, in all ramifications within and outside the shores of this country.
As a coordinating agency in disaster management, we worked closely with local and international partners in disaster mitigation and response. This facilitated effective partnership and cooperation among critical stakeholders at both vertical and horizontal levels.
These partnerships provided the opportunities for continual human capacity improvement, cross fertilization of ideas, visible exposure and cooperation among various stakeholders, which led to the emergence of NEMA as a key emergency management platform in sub-Sahara Africa, as well as active collaboration with the United Nations Systems and International development partners for enhanced emergency preparedness, response and mitigation.
In order to ensure efficiency in response, we established eight new Operations Offices of NEMA in Adamawa, Edo, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Kano, Niger and Sokoto States to complement activities of the existing Zonal Offices in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. This led to effective risk management at the grassroots and guaranteed timely humanitarian response.
Since our assumption of office, we nurtured and sustained advocacy and partnership with all State Governments and the FCT, with a view to promote establishment and strengthening of State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) with requisite legal backing, manpower and funding.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to report to you that we have made huge progress from 10 states emergency agencies in the past to the present establishment of 31 states emergency agencies across the country.
With a view to further reduce response; we established Emergency Response Ambulance Bays (ERABs) equipped with Mobile Intensive Care Unit ambulances and Incidence Response vans at strategic locations within and around Abuja city on pilot basis. Plans are underway to extend the services to other major towns and strategic locations nationwide.
We established a functional Call Centre for 24-hour reception, processing and dissemination of distress call from members of the public, for prompt emergency response. We also established a state of the art Geographic Information (GIS) laboratory for satellite image interpretation, disaster risk mapping and Early Warning information dissemination.
We also acquired heavy-duty equipments for emergency response such as excavators, air ambulance and rescue helicopter. I make proud to say that the NEMA Air Ambulance has the capacity to undertake medical evacuation across Nigeria and can fly non-stop to any European and Middle Eastern capital. The Agency has signed memorandum of understanding with major national and foreign hospitals for the reception of medical emergencies.
In line with international best practices, NEMA has established a full-fledged Department of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and has trained thousands of Emergency Volunteers at ward levels, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and high level Executive Volunteers.
Discussions had reached advanced stage with the Society of Family Physicians of Nigeria (SOFPON) to engage 1500 medical doctors and specialists as volunteers across the country.
We successfully infused Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) into Basic and Post Basic education Curriculum in Nigeria. And in collaboration with Six Federal Universities, the Agency offers Post-Graduate Course on Disaster Management and Development Studies. We established Seismological Stations at Ebonyi State University, Abakalaki and Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State and concluded the Vulnerability Capacity Analysis (VCA) study of six States and FCT in Nigeria.
Furthermore, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, NEMA has developed nine comprehensive plans to streamline Emergency Response Operations during disasters. These plans include: The National Response Plan, The Search and Rescue and Epidemic Evacuation Plan, The National Disaster Management Framework, The National Contingency Plan, National Contingency Plan on Infrastructural Resuscitation,
Other plans developed include; The National Nuclear and Radiological Emergency Plan, National Influenza Pandemic Preparedness, Draft Guidelines for the use of Military Assets during emergencies and The National Pandemic Disaster Response Plan.
We have also ensured effective contingency prepositioning of relief items and sustained rapid humanitarian response to ongoing emergencies across Nigeria, especially during the unprecedented floods of 2012 and ongoing insurgency in the North East, during which the Agency provided consistent leadership in Camp Management and Coordination of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camps.
Ladies and gentlemen, with change in humanitarian dashboard, we have sustained humanitarian support to the victims of the ongoing insurgency in the Northeast and the communal crises in several states of the country. We have also established the Vulnerable Group Care Unit (VGCU) to provide support to women, children, the sick and the elderly during emergencies.
The Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Borno State Government; while we provide raw food, the state government provides condiments for the feeding of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Also in collaboration with the UN Resident Coordinator (RC), we have established and inaugurated the Humanitarian Co-ordination Forum for the review of current humanitarian concerns and planning appropriate mechanism for interventions.
On international operations, NEMA has been actively involved and successfully repatriated thousands of stranded Nigerians from Libya, Mali, Gabon, Saudi Arabia, the Central African Republic (CAR) and South-Africa.
Apart from provision of humanitarian assistance to crisis-hit countries like Kenya, Guinea, South-Sudan, Saharawi Arab Republic, Congo and Central Africa Republic, in collaboration with Foreign Affairs, NEMA delivered relief assistance to our neighbours including Niger, Mali and the Gambia. We also signed an MOU towards assisting The Gambia in the establishment of its National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).
All these modest achievements were possible simply because everyone played a role. I therefore say a big Thank You to the entire management and staff of the Agency for your unwavering support during my stay as the Director General.
According to renowned philosopher/author, ‘To lead the people you must walk behind them,’ to all of you I wish to say that in the last six and half years, you have led the way, I followed you carefully from behind and together; we saw and we conquered.
You have exhibited commitment, passion and patriotisms especially during the most trying moments of my stewardship at the Agency. I therefore sincerely urge you all to extend the same support to the new leadership.
I must also pay special tribute in memory of members of staff of NEMA that lost their lives while on active service and those that have suffered injuries and deprivation in the course of call to duty. Their contributions shall forever remain fresh in our memory.
At this juncture, I once again express appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR for the opportunity given to me to serve his administration. Your Excellency Sir, I remain indebted to you.
I cannot conclude these remarks without acknowledging the support of all stakeholders including but not limited to the security agencies, critical institutions, development partners, state governments, the media, civil society groups and hosts of others too numerous to mention.
I thank you all most sincerely for listening, may God bless us and may He continue to strengthen Nigeria.
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