By: Aderogba George
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| Participants at the training |
The Leprosy Mission Nigeria (TLMN), a Non-Governmental organisation, trained stakeholders from five states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on strengthening disaster reduction in their various communities.
Dr Sunday Udo, the National Director, TLMN, said, at the event in Abuja that the participants were drawn from Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi States and Abuja.
He said that the TLMN had presence in those states, hence the reason for their selection.
Udo noted that the TLMN had an interest in building the capacity of states, particularly in communities where there are a lot of persons with disabilities.
According to him, the training is to strengthen the stakeholders and Nigerian communities; make them more resilient, proactive, and prepared in the event of disaster.
The TLMN director noted that disasters, whether man-made or natural, could occur at any time, so communities should be prepared.
Udo said that the stakeholders who went through the training are required to, in turn, identify communities prone to disasters in their various states and train others in those communities.
"This is a training for trainers and facilitators who will now go to identify communities, work with the community members to put together plans that are specific for them.
"We have the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) staff here, who are here from these states – Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, and FCT.
"When disasters occur, it has a way of destroying livelihoods and rendering people powerless, making them more vulnerable, so the essence of this training is to identify what makes people more vulnerable and strengthen the system.
"It is also to identify their capacities, enhance those capacities, and equip them with tools and skills to be able to survive so that once anything happens, they can leverage existing opportunities," he said.
Mr Musa Zakari, Director, Human Resource Management, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), commended the TLMN for the training.
Zakari, who was represented by Dr. Ejike Martins, Deputy Director, Welfare and Training, NEMA, emphasised interagency collaboration and cooperation to mitigate disasters in society.
According to him, the biggest challenge facing Nigeria as a country is how to build disaster-risk-conscious communities.
Zakari added that managing disasters must be a joint effort and not for government alone.
"NEMA has discovered that a lot of people find it difficult to manage disasters effectively in various communities.
"People must come together to support the government’s effort on disaster management," he said.
He also called for more sensitisation on disaster management, resource mobilisation, and assistance in all forms to help reduce disasters in the various communities.
Mr Halilu Abubakar, Ag. Director, Social Welfare, Ministry of Women Affairs, Kebbi State, disclosed that he had learned a lot from the training.
He appealed for more training for residents in Kebbi State, saying that such training is rare and hard to come by.
Abubakar called on the government to pririotise modern technological equipment for effective service delivery for civil servants in the state.
He promised to take back home what he had learned from the training to impact the lives of his people.
Mrs. Bolarin Joy, a woman leader of the Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities, Kwara State, appreciated the organiser of the training, adding that the training had changed some of her ideas.
According to her, we are taught how some activities of women, such as improper waste management, cause hazards, i.e., human-induced hazards like floods and war.
The Leprosy Mission Nigeria (TLMN) is an international Christian development organisation that aims to bring healing and restoration to people affected by leprosy and other neglected tropical diseases, as well as people living with disabilities in Nigeria.