The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has called on government and stakeholders to adopt hazard resistant building standards and environmental regulations to promote disaster management in the country.
Mr Mustapha Maihaja, the Director-General, NEMA, made the appeal at the
commemoration of the 2019 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on
Monday in Abuja.
Maihaja, who was represented by Mr Sunday Hamman, the Director, Finance
and Account of the agency, said that it was important to adopt stringent
measures to protect people from the risk of vulnerable infrastructure.
According to him, disaster risk reduction is everybody’s business; as such the
need to collaborate on principled and effective disaster management remained
paramount.
“According to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction, there are about 665 billion dollars direct economic losses during
the past three years.
“A considerable proportion of those losses come from infrastructures failures
in high-income countries. As we all know weak implementation and
enforcement mechanisms are common problems in countries where most
urban development is informal.
“As such when critical infrastructure fails, businesses experience indirect
losses, as production, distribution and supply chains are interrupted.
“Despite the competing demands for resources, we must work together to
improve the lives of the vulnerable citizens as well as enhance their resilience,’’
he said.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, also urged
Nigerians to patronise professionals in the building industry to avoid
infrastructural disasters.
Fashola, who was represented by the Director, Construction of the Ministry,
Mr Mosunmade Odusanya, said that priority should therefore be given for the
consideration of planning and other building components that could stand the
test of time.
“At the pre-design, design, construction and post construction stages, the
provisions in the National Building Code, Fire Code and other environmental
prescriptions should be adequately
