Abuja—The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Alhaji Mohammad Sani-Sidi, yesterday called for greater cooperation among responders in emergency response and mitigation in the country.

Sani-Sidi made the call at a one-day ‘After action’ review meeting of stakeholders that responded to the Nyanya and EMAB Plaza bomb explosions in the FCT.
He urged the stakeholders to be patriotic in providing solutions to emergency response and mitigation in the country. The director-general, who said that the impact of the incidents could not be quantified, also said it had created constant fear and apprehension on the citizenry.

“It is a fact that terrorism is a global phenomenon and we have had our share of its destructive impact.
“We have a great responsibility to either fight it collectively to a standstill or allow it to destroy us as it has done in other parts of the world,” Sani-Sidi said.

He said the country’s quest for development and nationhood could only be achieved in an atmosphere of peace and respect for human dignity.
Head of Search and Rescue, NEMA Abuja Operations Office, Labaran Ahman, stressed the need for improved coordination in the roles played by responders during emergencies.

Presenting a paper on ‘the Role of First Responders in Mass Casualty Incident Resulting from the use of Improvised Explosives Devices (IEDs)’, Ahman identified the Police as the lead agency.

Ahman said the police and Fire Service should be activated simultaneously if explosions occur.   “Disaster Response Units (DRUs) of the Armed Forces should be activated when the incident overwhelms the capacity of civil response stakeholders. The Police Bomb Disposal Unit or counter-terror unit is to declare the incident area safe for rescue workers to access,” he said.

He gave the role of first responders during search and rescue operations in cases of fire and flooding as the fire service while the Federal Road Safety Commission should handle road crashes.