Emergency Management Cautions  Communities On Bush Burning, Other Recklessness

The Director Forecasting Response and Mitigation of the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Mrs. Florence Wenegieme, made the call during an aggressive campaign to sensitize the residents against the danger associated with such act in Abaji Area Council of the FCT.

The Director urged the community to consider the dangers associated with dumping of refuse in drainages, storage of fuel in their houses or vehicles, and improper use of electrical appliances that can easily cause fire incidence.

“We are trying to intensify this message to make sure that they stop bush burning and at the same time to make them understand that, the impacts of dry season when it came to carelessness, because the common hazard we have during dry season is fire out break and this hazard turns out to be a disaster when it goes out of hand, how does that happened is when they start bush burning and there is nobody to put out the fire completely, it escalate from the bush into the nearby houses  and that is how it keeps going if it is not attended to immediately you can imagine how many lives or properties will be lost and that is why FCT Emergency Management Agency make sure that we intensify the sensitization campaign”,  Mrs. Wenegieme stated

The Director stressed that all hands must be on deck to achieve the objectives of the Sensitization Campaign.

“Today we are here in Abaji Area Council at the Chairman’s office because all communities have their representatives  here at the council so we want the message to be carry back to the grass root in order to save lives and properties as a result of bush burning, the electrical fittings in their houses, some of them use armature electricians when building their houses, we are advising them to stop of doing that and get qualified  electricians to do wearing and at the same time to use standard materials and no selling of fuel under the high tension wire as this can course fire outbreak like what happened in Kubuwa where five people lost their lives and that is why we are trying to see the avoidable disasters are prevented”, the Director explained.

Speaking at the event, Acting Director General of FEMA, Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim said, stakeholders in the communities must redouble their commitments in addressing the negative effects of the environment.

He added that, United Nations predicted that by the year 2030 the world will experience more than five hundred environmental disasters which will affect more than One Point Seven million people in the world.

“What  I will like you to know is that, the United Nations climate prediction states that by the year twenty thirty the world would experience not less than five hundred and sixty different types  of disasters, which may push one point seven million people into poverty, before we used to see disasters on the television in other countries but we are all aware now we are experiencing these types of disasters and hazards in Nigeria, bomb explosion, landslide so definitely we have to take proactive measures towards mitigating these disasters and be able to response appropriately when we have such situations and these  disasters  mostly affect vulnerable and marginalized people within the society and further worsen the poverty that is prevailing within the society which most of them live in the rural community so we have to make sure that we reduce the inequality that existing between the citizens within the FCT level”,  Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim said,

The Chairman of the council who was represented by his Vice, Mr. Isah Makka, assured the Campaign Team that, the Council is ready to give all the necessary support to sensitization mission  and also the council is  going to constitute committee to expand the Sensitization activities to the grass root to mitigate the effects of the reckless use of the environment for the benefit of humanity.