NEMA Solicits NBA’s Support towards Amendment to its Act

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has solicited the cooperation and support of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) towards the on-going amendment to the agency’s establishment Act to position it for the challenges of providing succour to citizens in distress.

The call, NEMA stated, became necessary for effective management of emergency and disaster situations in the country.

The Agency, in a statement by its Head, Media and Public Relations , Sani Datti, in Abuja disclosed that the Director General National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Mustapha Y. Maihaja, made the call while addressing members of the NBA at its 2018 Annual Conference in Abuja.

According to the statement, Maihaja hinted that the amendment to the NEMA Act was desirable to ameliorate some identified gaps in the management of disasters in the country.

He requested the NBA to be “in the vanguard of ensuring that NEMA Act which is currently undergoing reform at the National Assembly is treated expeditiously and in a manner as to ensure that the Agency is made to be more robust, more focused, resilient, proactive and better handled”.

“This will enable the Agency confront many challenges it is facing currently,” he said.

Maihaja also expressed his desire that “NBA will in due course evolve strategy to actively partner with my Agency to ensure adequate protection of human rights of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), expose human right abuses, if any and provide free legal service to IDPs when need arises”.

He said: “The federal government through various initiatives has continued to undertake drastic palliative measures aimed at providing necessary succour to victims of disasters in the country.

“These were often made possible through active collaboration with various stakeholders, including the National Human Rights Commission, Nigeria Police, military, NGOs and INGOs.”