Dr Abbas Idriss, the Director-General of the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has reassured residents on the commitment of the agency to the protection of lives and property.
Idriss gave assurance at the end of a road walk organised to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the agency in Abuja.
Idriss was represented by Mr Mohammed Sabo, Director of Finance and Account of FEMA.
He tasked the staff members of FEMA on maintaining the five-minutes or less response time in cases of emergencies in the FCT.
The director-general said the walk was also create awareness on disaster prevention and mitigation in the FCT.
He said that the walk was organised to create an opportunity for the staff of the agency to keep fit to enable them carry out their duties optimally.
”All hands would be on deck with other stakeholders to mitigate against the impact of floods.
“We have established a very good structure. We have taken flood emergency activities to various communities. We have also established stakeholders’ and development partners for FEMA.
“We are well-grounded to attend to emergency situation in the FCT.
“This exercise is a regular activity in FEMA, because our staff are always on the field and we want to ensure that they are physical fit to handle emergency situations in the FCT,” he said.
Also speaking, Mrs Florence Wenegieme, Director, Forecasting, Response and Mitigation, FEMA, said that all area councils had established their local emergency management committment, to complement the efforts of the agency.
She added that the agency which recorded zero-fatality during the 2022 flooding, had repositioned itself to record more success stories.
According to her, aggressive sensitisation, warning signs on flood prone areas, among other measures, are already in place to ensure no one losses his or her life to flooding.
The road which which had the management and staff of the agency as participants, started from AYA roundabout to the Army Resource Centre and ended at FEMA office.
The 2023 Annual Flood Outlook by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency showed that the FCT and 178 other local governments across the country were highly probable flood-risk areas.
