ALeP beckons FG, NEMA, Soludo to help Awba-Ofemili flood victims - ITREALMS

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The Federal Government (FG) has been beckoned upon through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Anambra State government led by Prof. Chukwuma Soludo to urgently assist flood victims in Awba-Ofemili town among others.

Awba-Ofemili is a community in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State and was heavily ravaged by the recent flood, sacking some villages including in Umuosite and some parts of Ege, Nkpuocha, Oka-akwu, Ngene Nkpumekwu communities to name a few.

NEMA boss assures of safety on use of electricity across value chain

ITRealms:

The re-appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) Engr. Peter Ewesor has assured Nigerians of safety on the use of electricity, lives and property across the value chain, reports ITRealms.

Ewesor also identified the issue of standardization of equipment and materials as well as existence of quackery as major problems plaguing the sector.

For him, these have led to many unfortunate incidences of electrical accidents and electrocutions in Nigeria.

The Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation has however assured that these problems will be further strongly addressed as he begins his second tenure in earnest.

Earlier at the mini hand-over ceremony during which Engr. T. T. Aliyu presented the report of his brief stewardship during the period he acted to the MD/CEO, Ewesor commended Aliyu and itemized the focus of the current management.

"First is our unalloyed commitment to the implementation of the mandate of this Agency. As I had noted severally, the major challenge of the sector is quackery and we have evolved multiple strategies. We will make life unbearable for any group or individual who insist on endangering Nigerians through refusal to abide by professional safety standards. 

“Recently, we secured a conviction of four accused persons at the chief magistrate court of Kaduna State for the offences of criminal conspiracy, forgery of the NEMSA Certificates and cheating contrary to section 59, 345 and 308 of the penal code of Kaduna State. This will serve as deterrence to those contemplating forging and counterfeiting NEMSA Certificate/instrument”

"We are going to intensify our efforts in terms of enforcement of technical standards and regulations, technical inspection, testing and certification of all categories of electrical installations, electricity meters and instruments to ensure the efficient production and delivery of safe, reliable and sustainable power supply and guarantee safety of lives and property in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and other allied industries/workplaces safety standards.

"The second focus is our determination to empower our staff to effectively discharge their responsibilities by ensuring a conducive environment for work, scale up on the necessary work equipment and investing in human capital development. Importantly too, we are already expanding our services, getting closer to people by inaugurating new Inspectorate field offices, such as the new Owerri Office, Bauchi and one coming up in Uyo.

"And last but not the least is our rededication to the culture of integrity, transparency and openness in the management of the Agency. We are passionately committed to the anti-corruption crusade of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. We have always ensured due process in our operations and that has earned us the 12th position amongst 166 public institutions assessed by Public and Private Development Center (PPDC) in the 2017 FOI ranking recently conducted. Going forward we will ensure continuous maximum compliance with relevant extant rules and other regulations", the Chief Executive said.

He assured Nigerians that the Agency will be more visible as it intensifies efforts to enforce safety of use of electricity and safety of lives and property in the industry and Nigeria at large", he said.

ITRealms recalls that Engr. Peter O. Ewesor completed his first tenure on 10th September this year before his reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari on the 3rd of October 2017 for a further term of four years in accordance with the provisions of section 7(3) of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency Act, 2015.

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States govts advised to establish emergency trust fund

ITRealms:

Participants at the recently concluded annual consultative meeting between the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) ended by advocating for the establishment of Emergency Trust Fund by state governments to be funded with 1 per cent of internally generated revenue and 1 per cent of monthly allocation from the Federation Account to the states, through appropriate legislation, reports ITRealms.

A communique from the meeting, ITRealms reports, quoted participants saying it has become necessary due to lack of defined funding sources and allocation criteria for the SEMAs by state governments resulting to over reliance on NEMA. They observed that most of SEMAs are either not funded or are inadequately funded in spite of the enormity of disaster management activities in the states.

The participants also observed that most SEMAs were not established by law and those established by law were not functional and they lacked proper structure with full complement of departments, units and staff.

The consultative meeting with SEMAs is organized annually by the NEMA to consider recent trends of disaster management across the country, update SEMAs on recent changes in MEMA’s policies and receive updates with a view to strengthening disaster management at the state level. This year’s meeting was held at the weekend in Asaba, Delta State.

Earlier, the Director General of NEMA Muhammad Sani Sidi called for stronger coordination among critical stakeholders especially between the coordinating agencies at the federal and state levels as effective disaster management and humanitarian service delivery cannot be achieved by one tier of government alone.

“Government institutions, the private sector, local and international organisations and individual must work together for a nation like ours to meet its objectives of emergency management, disaster risk reduction and the building of strong national resilience,” Sani Sidi said.

He stressed that coordination allow all personnel and agencies involved in emergency management to work together for enhanced service delivery, saying that was done with the main goal of saving lives, protection of properties, critical national assets and infrastructure and the complete restoration of normalcy in the aftermath of disasters.

Further, ITRealms gathered that participants at the meeting were made up of executive secretaries/heads of state emergency management agencies from each state, NEMA zonal coordinators and managements staff.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE


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