NEMA DG, Hajia Zubaida Umar receives Oyo Deputy Gov in Abuja 

The Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Barr.Abdul Raheem Adebayo Lawal, on Thursday, paid a courtesy call on the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Hajia Zubaida Umar at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.

The Deputy Governor who is also the Chairman, Oyo State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) told his hostess that the visit was to foster a better working relationship with NEMA.

While registering the appreciation of Oyo State government to the humanitarian agency for its past assistance and support for disaster victims in the state, Barr. Lawal however noted that in the last two years the agency had not reached out to Oyo in the area of provision of relief materials.

He then solicited for continued support from the agency stating that no state can single handedly fund the exercise because it is capital intensive.

While intimating NEMA DG with the fact that all the thirty three local governments areas of the state are disaster prone, Barr.Lawal called for closer collaboration between the agency and the state government to mitigate disaster which comes in various forms.

Welcoming the Deputy Governor to her office, Hajia Zubaida Umar thanked her guest for appreciating the role of the agency.

She said the agency was poised to up its activities in not only bringing succour to disaster victims across the country but also in preventing disaster from happening.

The DG who expressed dismay over the gap between Oyo State Government and her agency promised to address the issue.

She however pointed out that no relief materials released by the agency to any person,group or organisation should be distributed without the involvement of states emergency management agencies.

According to her, only states emergency agencies together with her agency’s officials are officially responsible for the distribution of relief materials to disaster victims regardless of who collected such materials.

She later presented a souvenir to the Oyo State Deputy Governor.