Relief materials: Senate to investigate NEMA exclusion of Adamawa communities

The Senate has mandated its Committees on Special Duties and Environment to investigate the alleged exclusion of some victims of flood by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in their disaster response activities in 2019.

Also tasked to investigate the National Emergency Management Agency was the Senate Committee on Ecology and Climate Change following a Point of Order raised by Sen. Yaroe Binos (PDP-Adamawa South) on Tuesday’s plenary.

The motion entitled “The need for immediate disaster response by NEMA to communities in Demsa, Numan, Guyuk and Lamurde local government areas of Adamawa severely affected by flooding in Oct.”

The red chamber also directed NEMA to immediately implement a response programme for the flood disaster that affected various communities of Demsa, Numan, Lamurde and Guyuk local government areas of Adamawa in consonance as the detailed submission already made to NEMA.

Binos relied on order 42 to raise the matter of urgent national importance and 52 which required the need to attend to the matter on the consent of the President of the Senate and the senators present secured the consent of the Senate to present the motion.

Binos pointed out that Act No.12 as amended by Act No.50 of 1999 established NEMA as an agency of government charged with a response to issues if national disaster without bias to any group of people.

He pointed out that in the response to provide relief materials to victims of flooding in some parts of Adamawa state, the agency excluded some communities of Adamawa who are still left off the federal government approved in intervention to the people.

“It was established for the purpose of managing disasters in Nigeria through the formulation of policies on all activities relating to disaster management and coordination of plans and programmes for an efficient and effective response to disasters in Nigeria.”

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He said that the major disaster in the form of destructive flooding in parts of Adamawa occurred in Oct. 2019 as a result of the release of excess water by the authorities of Lokoja in Cameroon.

“NEMA performed a disaster response action by distributing relief materials to communities in Furfure, Yola South and North affected by the flood.

“This intervention by NEMA was not extended to other local government areas in Adamawa along river Benue valley equally affected by the flood disaster,” Binos said.

He further said that although the attention of the director-general of the agency was drawn to the need to provide relief materials to communities of the four local governments mentioned, nothing had been done by NEMA till date.

Supporting the motion, Sen. Shuaibu Lau (PDP- Taraba North) said that there was the need to call NEMA to order because each time there was flood along the Benue valley, it runs from Adamawa, Taraba and Benue.

“There is no way NEMA each time there is flood they will select some few areas and give relief materials and leave the others.”

“When there is a disaster, NEMA needs to go along the river Benue and ascertain which areas were affected with a view to bringing relief materials to the areas affected,” Lau stated.