In its quest to achieve a sustainable development, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has taken the fight against disaster to the public, describing it as the most vital area to achieve its goals and objectives.

To this end, the agency held a workshop for senior officers of the public service in Ibadan, aimed at bridging the knowledge gap in disaster management. It is also to   embrace the new paradigm shift to disaster risk reduction (DRR) among  members of the public service at the state level.

The director-general of NEMA, AVM Mohammed Audu-Bida (rtd), disclosed that the world was witnessing an increase in the number of man-made and natural disasters that constantly threaten lives and property. He said disaster also disrupted socio-economic activities and left millions of people in abject poverty. "The need to have a holistic disaster management is the need for the shift that is DRR, which is gradually gaining recognition and commitment among  governments worldwide,'' he said.

The workshop, titled "Mainstreaming Disaster Management in National Development Policies," was targeted at the senior officers in the public service on GL 12 and above in the states so that they would become proactive emergency and disasters managers.

Audu-Bida explained that Nigeria's DRR initiatives focused on implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA), which translates to mean the DRR centres on early warning systems, effective disaster preparedness and response mechanism, among others.  "Therefore, for Nigeria not to play the second fiddle, there is the need for the workshop to keep abreast of the latest mechanism in disaster management," he said.

A statement issued by the NEMA chief press secretary, Mr. Segun Imohiosen stated that effective disaster management practices exist. The  statement revealed that there was adequate space for the participation of different stakeholders, which include vulnerable communities, states, civil society organisations, volunteers and other development partners. He added that the entire idea was to have an interdisciplinary  and inter-agency participation, collaboration and strategic partnership through regular planning, capacity building, simulations and training exercises  to ensure preparedness and response in disaster management, hence the workshop.