The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Development (South East), Barr. Chioma Nweze has suggested common areas of collaboration between her office and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to strengthen ongoing interventions in disaster and emergency management in the zone.
She spoke during a courtesy visit by Senior Special Assistants to the President on Community Engagement (SSAPs) from the 6 geopolitical zones, to the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed.
Barr Nweze revealed that the SSAPs have recently helped the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs in updating the national Social Register and, therefore, are willing and capable of making inputs to improve the impact of NEMA activities.
She was emphatic that SSAPs must be carried along so that the list of beneficiaries of NEMA's humanitarian packages can be vetted for onward recommendations on their eligibility and worthiness to ensure that the targeted population are reached.
The presidential aide commended NEMA for its strong presence in South East and various life touching programmes and promised to engage the Ebonyi State Governor, Rt. Hon. Ogbonnaya Nwifuru on the provision of an office space and a warehouse for NEMA in the state.
In a response, the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed expressed appreciation over the visit.
He committed that the Agency was ready and willing to work with the SSAPs, especially at the community level, carry them along to participate in some interventions, and also pass relief materials through their office to provide some leverage and increase their influence in their respective communities which by extension, makes them more effective agents and witnesses to the works of NEMA for onward reportage to the president.
To this effect, the DG mandated the Director of Relief, Abdullahi Yusuf, to create a situation report WhatsApp group which was christened, SSAPs/NEMA.
The DG also offered that SSAPs will be invited to subsequent training so that they are equipped with the technical know-how in disaster management to become all-round partners of NEMA.
Mr Habib however implored SSAPs to use their positions to persuade governors to commit to the State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) and the Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMC) so that they can augment the efforts of NEMA.
There were also responses from SSAPs in charge of North West, North Central, South-South, North East and South West geo-political zones during the visit.
Meanwhile, the SSAPs also extended their visits to USAID Nigeria to explore areas of mutual interest and partnership for commmunity engagement, particularly in the areas of economic development, security, health and education.
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