Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
A Professor of Public Health, University of Ilorin, Gordon Osagbemi has called on the federal government to decentralise the activities of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to all 774 local government councils in the country.
This, he said would assist the agency to be more effective and efficient in the management of disaster cases in the country.
Osagbemi made the call in Ilorin recently while delivering the 182nd inaugural lecture of the University of Ilorin, entitled, “Disaster and Public Health Emergencies: Proper Prior Preparations Prevent Poor Performance”.
According to him, “the decentralisation of NEMA to all the 774 local government councils in the country would go a long way to ensuring effective delivery of its constitutional mandates to Nigerians.”
He said: “Disasters and public health emergencies are a time long occurrence that exert great tolls on lives and properties with global consequence.
“The effects are felt among all age groups with high levels of mortality and morbidity and its activities should encompass all aspects of disaster management including disaster mapping, surveillance, preparation response, mitigation and research,” he said.
Osagbemi stated that government should ensure that mechanism are put in place for the sustenance of the activities of international agencies and organisation after they might have left programme intervention areas.
The health expert also advised members of the public to seek for information on the various hazards and disasters they are prone to.
He urged them to avoid hazardous lifestyle and also heed to alerts when given by relevant authorities.
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