The Structure of NEMA

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THE NATURE AND THE STATUS OF DISASTER
MANAGERMENT IN NIGERIA
Dr. Wale Alabi, Dr. Victor Ugbelase
AFRICAN ORIENT 40 Adegbola str., Anifowose Ikeja,
Lagos.
E-mail drwale_at_yahoo.com
234-1-4714155, 234-8023378885
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Introduction
The Nature of Disaster in Nigeria

• Prevailing hazards in Nigeria

Recommendation for Effective Disaster in Nigeria
Role of the Armed Forces
Hurdles to Management of disaster in Nigeria
Conclusion
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It may interest you to know that many factors
govern the Organisation and design of individual
response systems. Some of these are political,
environmental, historical and jurisdictional and
economical.
Therefore comparisons between system are
difficult, because of the variables involved
Nigeria the giant of Africa and the most
populated country (120 million) in Africa,
Nigeria has an expansive coastline of about
973,768sq km. Geographical features such as the
extensive Niger Delta, expansive Belts of hills
and Plateaus in the middle Belt and North East,
and a vast and land further North makes it one of
the most difficult and expensive terrains to
manage disasters or conduct search and rescue.
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria as a country has suffered a lot from the
problem of disaster. The world Disaster Report
(a publication of the International Federation of
Red cross and Crescent societies, 2002 edition)
gave an annual average of people killed and
affected by Disasters in Nigeria as 96,786
representing 0.09 of people killed and affected
by Disasters in the world.
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Nigeria as a nation has suffered from its own
share of disaster occurrences for example,
between 1992 to 2000, Nigeria recorded about 400
major fire and aircraft disasters involving more
than 10,000 people with death toll of about a
thousand plus and quantum of property destroyed
was evaluated to be in tons of millions of
dollars.
THE NATURE OF DISASTER IN NIGERIA
These include landslide, thunder, windstorm,
flooding, soil erosion, earthquake, tremor,
volcanic eruptions or coastal erosions to mention
a few, while the manmade ones may include
dam-failure, maritime disasters, bomb explosion,
conflict / crisis, occasioning displacement of
victims, oil spillage, population explosion and
train accidents and air crashes.
Nigerians have been lucky with earthquakes but
not so fortunate with floods, pollution and oil
spillages, ethnic disturbances such as ethnic
conflicts between Hausa igbo and Yoruba
Hausa. The country has also had its fair share
of air disasters
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Farmlands and houses have been washed off by
erosion in the Northern and Southern parts of the
country, oil spillage have displaced the Ijaw
fisherman and their farming counterparts have
more or less been rendered jobless too because of
the effects of the spillage on the ecosystem.
As long as probity, transparency and patriotism
continue to decline in our country we shall
always reap economic and social woes.
As long as Nigerians believe in the
get-rich-guide syndrome, the menace of pipeline
disaster will continue to be a reality. There
has been more than a thousand attempts of
vandalisations of pipeline in Nigeria since 1993.
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THE PREVAILING HAZARDS IN NIGERIA
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Disaster preparedness and response are not solely
the work of experts and emergency responders from
Government disaster organizations Local
volunteers, citizens, organizations and business
have an active and important role to play
before, during and after major emergencies and
Disasters
Role of Government In 1976, the Federal military
Government took a giant step in the management of
Disaster through the establishment of NERA
(national emergency relief Agency) by Decree No.
48. It was observed that the decree laid
emphasis on the relief aspect of the Agencys
functions thereby limiting the activities of the
agency to the distribution of relief materials
to disaster victims. It is mandate did not cover
prevention, control, mitigation and
rehabilitation phases of disaster management in
the countries.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA
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In order to address the limitation in the scope
of operation of NERA and proffer solutions to the
ineffective disaster response in the country, a
National workshop on Disaster and crisis
management in Nigeria was organized by NERA from
the 4-6 November, 1997 at the Abuja Sheraton
Hotels and Towers. The aim of the workshop was
ro afford NERA the opportunity to articulate and
adopt a more comprehensive and effective approach
to disaster management in the country through the
participation and contribution of ideas by all
organizations and Agencies concerned with
disaster management in the country.
The activities of such agencies are
intersectional and must be properly coordinated
by a well - structured and authorized body to
achieve the desired goals. The scope of
operations of NERA was later broadened to perform
general functions including but not limited to
the formulation of policies on all activities
relating to disaster management and co-ordinate
plans and programmes for response to disaster.
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On the basis of the foregoing NERA metamorphosed
to National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in
1999. It was established by decree no. 12 to
respond to the obvious need for a truly
functional, interventionist, pre-emptive and
autonomous body to co-ordinate the management of
disasters in all its ramifications in Nigeria.
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THE STRUCTURE OF NEMA NEMA has successfully
responded to more 200 cases of disaster within
two years of its existence.
Chairman of Council
Governing Council
Director - General
Department of Finance Administration
Department of Relief Rehabilitation
Department of Planning Research Forecasting
Department of Search Rescue
Communication
Planning Research
Rehabilitation
Forecasting
Relief
Admin
Finance
Search Rescue Operations
Audit Unit
Press Unit
Legal Unit
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the previous chart
NEMA ORGANISATION CHART The Federal Government of
Nigeria, through NEMAs activities, is leading
the country to developing and maintaining a
national emergency management system that
guarantees protection for its citizenry and
properties United Nations has designated NEMA as
the focal point for disaster management in
Nigeria and has instituted disaster management
co-operation between it and Agency
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The police and Armed forces, made up of the Army,
Navy and Air-force have the traditional functions
of ensuring security and peace.
In an emergency situation they are expected to
keep peace by pre-empting an imminent breakdown
of law and order.
Specific services play predominant roles in
specific mishaps. Generally the roles played by
armed forces in Nigeria includes search and
rescue (SAR) medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), fire
fighting support, provision of transportation
support for relief agencies, opening of routes
and construction of bridges, provision of
shelter, water and olectricity, provision of
first and medical facilities, patrol operations,
communication support, naming of key points and
vulnerable points and provision of security
services.
ROLE OF THE ARMED FORCES
Most times there are conflicting interest between
NEMA and the Armed forces, but this has been
addressed.
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• Lack of proper coordinating channels between the
  Federal, State and Local Government Agencies. The
  progress which has been made at the Federal Level
  in the area of institutional arrangement has not
  unfortunately been matched at the State, not to
  talk of Local Governments and Community Levels.
  This is a big problem because it is at these
  lower levels that most disasters made their
  impact.

HURDLES TO DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA

• Lack of implementation and enforcement of that
  could mitigate against disaster i.e. urban master
  plans to counter floods and irrigation plan to
  counter drought.

• Inadequate trained personal for search and rescue
  and relief operations.

• Lack of comprehensive disaster information date.

• Lack of equipments i.e. communication equipments.

• In adequate funding for hazard assessment,
  vulnerability studies, risk assessment,
  forecasting and public awareness raising.

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• The federal government of Nigeria should evolve
  an effective and comprehensive disaster
  management plan for the country.

• Mobilization of domestic and international
  resources for disaster reduction.

RECOMMEDATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT
IN NIGERIA

• Dissemination of information on disaster
  resistant constructions methods for building and
  public works.

• Identify disaster prone areas and device
  programmes for possible, voluntary relocation to
  areas that are less disaster prone.

• Collaboration of reputable international disaster
  agencies with NEMA and other Local NGOs involved
  in disaster management.

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• Promote and encourage communities to participate
  in disaster preparedness planning in such areas
  as water and food storage, fuel and first aid and
  in disaster prevention through activities that
  build a culture of safety.

• Training and retraining of personnel involvement
  in disaster management.

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CONCLUSION
Nigeria as a country has suffered a lot from the
problem of disaster. It is indeed a great threat
to natural security. Today Nigeria is suffering
from a host of problems like deteriorating
economic condition, low agricultural output,
unemployment and general deterioration of the
state of health.
Added to all these, are occasional natural and
frequent manmade disasters that further compound
because of desires to develop very fast, we tend
to neglect or pay little attention to disaster
issues and problems waiting until they have
occurred with devastating consequences. It is
therefore crucial that we awaken our policy
makers, government, civil society and the
international community to evolve an effective
comprehensive disaster management preparedness
and response plan for the country.
Thank you.
Dr. Wale Alabi
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THE NATURE AND THE STATUS OF DISASTER
MANAGERMENT IN NIGERIA
Dr. Wale Alabi, Dr. Victor Ugbelase
AFRICAN ORIENT 40 Adegbola str., Anifowose Ikeja,
Lagos.
E-mail drwale_at_yahoo.com
234-1-4714155, 234-8023378885