Ogun State government has concluded plans to build a relief camp that would accommodate and ensure comfort for victims of likely disasters in the State. The camp would be sited on a 2.5 hectare of land. The State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun made this known in Abeokuta while flagging off the first annual conference/exhibition of the Institute of Emergency Management holding in the State. The Governor, represented by his Commissioner for Environment, Engr. Ayo Olubori pointed out that as a responsive government; his administration has put necessary machineries in place to reduce likely loss of lives and property to the barest minimum if any disaster occurs. He said in this regard, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) had been repositioned and provided with state–of–the-art emergency rescue equipment, affirming that when completed, the relief camp would be provided with necessary amenities. He recalled that before now, government had been taking proactive measures to prevent flooding. The measures, he said include procurement of swamp boggy for clearing swamps, streams and rivers to ensure free flow of water, clearing debris along waterways in urban centres across the State, employing over 1000 road sweepers and recruiting Environmental Marshals to educate the people on ways of disposing refuse. Also speaking, Speaker of the State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Suraj Adekunbi sought for the amendment of the Federal Act on disaster management to ensure proper and effective functioning of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to reflect present realities. “The Federal Act seems to me, not comprehensive enough with regards to the actual management of disasters. For instance, the issues of directory or institutional role players in disaster management information system as found in the proposed Ogun State Bill are not found in the Federal Act. Therefore, for proper and effective functioning of the Agency at the Federal level, these must be included,” He said. Hon. Adekunbi noted that the National Policy on Disaster Management came into being to help address disaster management problems and the ever-increasing incidence of emergency in the country, disclosing that machineries had been put in place for the domestication of the law in the State to ensure smooth operations of SEMA in the State. Earlier, the Director-General of NEMA, Mr. Sanni Sidi, represented by the South–West Coordinator of the Agency, Mr. Iyiola Akande lauded the State government for its support for the programme, pointing out that it was designed to find out ways of reducing casualties of natural disasters and ensure proactiveness at all levels of government.
This would make a lot of sense if it happens. That camp will make a lot of things easier and wonderful.