Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed, has said that plans are already in motion to scale up emergency response and interventions in Plateau state in the face of recent communal attacks that have displaced many and created a humanitarian crisis.
Ahmed made this known while hosting the governor of Plateau state, Caleb Mutfwang who paid him a courtesy visit at his office, yesterday in Abuja.
He said whenever disaster hits the Plateau or any other state, NEMA sends a team to work with the State Emergency Management Agency, (SEMA), for an on the spot assessment for necessary intervention.
“Whenever disaster hits, we respond swiftly and very fast therefore we will not turn our backs on Plateau state or any other state.
“Already, items for intervention are already dispatched in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT). The Floods of last year which affected farmers displaced many with farmlands and crops lost so we are ready.
“Your excellency, we are not used to seeing governors come down to us to tell us thank you so, for you down to NEMA to say thank you, it gladdens our hearts and even fires us up to do more,” the DG said
Earlier, Plateau state governor, Caleb Mutfwang, said that his visit to the emergency response agency is to appreciate the government for the support it has been giving the state and to collaborate. Further interventions especially in crisis-ravaged communities where a lot of individuals have been displaced.
He said “We want to ensure that our work with NEMA is well coordinated in the Plateau as we look forward to more interventions.
“We know that Plateau state has been in the news of late, we are not happy about it but we know that’s the reality.
“We have had a lot of incidences of insurgency in the last two to three months and it has assumed the dimensions of a national disaster.
Governor Mutfwang said that “Whenever a life is lost, it’s a subject of concern but where you have over 200 people who have lost their lives, it acquires a new dimension.
“As a result of the insurgency, we have a lot of internally displaced people who are today in IDP camps and we have a lot of unsettled communities hence the incidence of human suffering also increases.
