The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the King Salman Aid and Relief Centre has donated a set of Real-time monitoring and Communication gadgets worth three- hundred thousand dollars to the Nigerian Government.
The Director General of, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA Ahmed Habib who received and commissioned the gadgets on behalf of the Nigerian Government described the Government of Saudi as a dependable ally.
According to him, the Federal Government has consistently provided humanitarian relief to the affected people, yet there’s always a need for support from partners.
“There is no doubt that the current flood disaster that has affected the entire federation of Nigeria, has tested the wits of emergency responders and has brought to the fore the importance of international collaboration on emergency service delivery in the country.
“Let me say that the King Salman Relief Centre has been very benevolent to Nigeria and has been a reliable ally, our partnership dates back to 2018. Between 2018 and 2021, the center donated relief items to Internally Displaced Persons in Borno, Yobe, and the Zamfara States. Furthermore, in 2021, King Salman Relief graciously upgraded the NEMA Contact Centre which was commissioned on the 13th of August, 2021 at the NEMA Headquarters, Abuja.
The DG further stated that Phase 2 of the project, which involves the provision of equipment for real-time monitoring and communication during emergencies has also been completed by the Relief Centre.
“With the audio-visual communication on disaster and humanitarian outlook, NEMA operatives deployed to the field can now send real-time feedback to the Agency’s Emergency Coordination Centre. The system will no doubt promote early response and facilitate the efficient management and deployment of life-saving human and material resources” Habib Ahmed explained
The NEMA DG added that the King Salman Aid and Relief Centre has also proposed to donate sixteen thousand food baskets of relief materials to Borno and Yobe States in Northeast Nigeria.
“Each household is expected to have a 59.8-kilogram basket of food comprising items
“The Real-time monitoring and communication equipment and proposed relief assistance are timely and cannot come at a better time than now when our country is bearing the brunt of widespread flood disaster.
The Team-lead of the King Salman Aid and Relief Centre, Al Yousef Abdulkarim Abdul Mohsen said the donation is an extension of the relief and Humanitarian-Development efforts provided by the Government of Saudi Arabia.
“In addition, our relationship was further strengthened with NEMA with the approval of the capacity development project to upgrade the coordination and information-sharing capacity of NEMA to enhance emergency response.
“Provision of communications equipment will facilitate the communication between NEMA and the field offices and enable NEMA to coordinate humanitarian response to affected population in the country”. Abdul Mohsen said.
The equipment donated to NEMA will no doubt enable NEMA the effective coordinate its relief and recovery activities across the affected states as Nigeria passes through this challenging moment.
Dominica Nwabufo
