Kogi State Government has said it will develop new areas of synergy with the National Emergency Agency, NEMA, to achieve disaster risk reduction in the State.
The State Deputy, Yomi Awoniyi, gave this indication while speaking at a seminar on disaster reduction in Lokoja on Wednesday.
The Deputy Governor, who was represented by the Special Adviser on Disaster Management, AVM Gabriel Abdul, rtd. Said the State Government learnt a lot of lessons from the flood disaster of last year, and disclosed that the State has started to rebuild the infrastructures destroyed by the flood including roads and schools.
Awoniyi said the State Government was developing a housing estate where some of those displaced by the flood will be resettled.
He called on the people of the State to have attitudinal change against disobedience of environmental laws, which he said, aggravated the effects of the flood disaster.
The Deputy Governor said the State Government was making arrangements to equip the State Emergency Management Agency and also support voluntary agencies in the State for better response to disaster situations.
The workshop, organised by NEMA and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UNISDR, centred on the implementation of an International action plan on disaster risk reduction tagged “Hyogo framework for Action”, which was signed by UN member States in Japan in 2005.
Stakeholders at the workshop enjoined the Federal and State Governments to develop strong institutions for disaster risk reduction.
