By Ibrahim Dan-Halilu
Barely two years in office, the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed has redefined disaster management in Nigeria with his new approach and initiatives.
Having spent over 25 years in the private sector where he managed different logistics businesses, Mustapha came into NEMA with preparedness and clear vision to transform the agency into a an effective, efficient and result oriented public institution.
His first major international engagement showcased NEMA’s achievement in translating the vision of the United Nations to facilitate the transition of member states from disaster mitigation to disaster risk reduction.
Mustapha articulated Nigeria’s commitment to the implementation of Sendei Protocol 2022 at the United Nation’s Office of Disaster Risk Reduction midterm review meeting in May during which he told the august gathering that Nigeria was prepared to adopt the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) 2015-2030.
Mustapha’s giant strides in disaster management have been recognized both at home and internationally as the United Nation’s Office on Disaster Risk Reduction accorded him recognition in June when he attended its sessions where he rolled out Nigeria’s achievements on disaster reduction.
Under his tenure, Nigeria has become one of the first African countries to adopt the UN Protocol on Disaster Management. Soon after his return from the United Nation’s meeting in New York, United States, Mustapha set out to implement the key strategy of the UN Protocol by constituting a committee to design a plan for Nigeria’s transition to Disaster Risk Reduction as a major policy framework for managing disasters in Nigeria.
He equally leveraged the United Nations Development Programme to secure funding for sponsorship of a two weeks training for first and second batches of staff and other key stakeholders that would be directly involved in the implementation of the new disaster risk reduction plan.
The agency is working hard together with SEMAs to improve on capacities of state and local movement authorities to take and own up to their responsibility of being first responders that save lives in the event of sudden onset disaster.
“This we are doing with the understanding that disasters are all local. Every disaster happens in a particular state, a particular LGA and a particular community and to save lives we must take disaster risk management to the grassroots,” said the Director General.
Most of the states in Nigeria responded positively to his call for genuine partnership to reduce disaster occurrence to the barest minimum as they released staff of their State Emergency Management Agencies to participate in the training.
Through his daunting follow up, many of the states acquired modern disaster fighting equipment such as fire service vehicles, and familiarize themselves with the disaster early warning signals, and disseminate the information to their citizens.
NEMA under Mustapha’s leadership turned a new leaf in its approach to annual flood disasters by developing a well-thought out plan of Action that provide all key stakeholders with early warning signals and adequate information on how to avert floods which has helped in reducing disaster incidents and their impact.
The agency has stepped up its efforts towards mitigation of the effects of disasters by embarked on mass distribution of relief materials to victims across the country.
The agency distributed food items, building materials, farming tools, sedlings and other livelihood items like grinding machines, to improve the livelihood of families displaced by floods. More than 600,000 households from 25 states have benefitted from this gesture.
The Mustapha Habib Ahmed administration also scored impressive results in the evacuation of Nigerians from other countries where their safety was not guaranteed or where their immigration status was withdrawn.
The Sudan evacuation stands out in view of the large number of Nigerians involved and the uncertainty that surrounded the situation in Sudan after the breakdown of law and order.
While most of the financial and service institutions in Khartoum and other major cities of Sudan were locked down, Mustapha had to seek alternatives to transfer funds to Nigerian Mission in Sudan to arrange the transportation of the evacuees to safer areas.
As Mustapha himself acknowledged, “the Sudan evacuation is one of the most challenging operations NEMA and its partners have accomplished in the recent past”
From July to August, NEMA through the Nigerian Mission in Sudan evacuated about 3000 Nigerians were largely students and women with children from the war-tone country.
A combination of experience, skills, networking prowess, personal conviction and generosity of the Director General of NEMA played out to ensure that Nigerians were moved out of Sudan without any casualty or serious injury. This has earned the agency more accolades from the public who understand the complexities involved in evacuating national of other countries under war situation.
The administration of Mustapha Ahmed has given priority to technology deployment in its operations. The agency has built a real time communication network between NEMA situation room and incident site in times of emergency.
“We intend to improve our real time humanitarian dashboard and inventory of our assets located in all the NEMA zonal, territorial and operations office nationwide, the NEMA Director General emphasized.
“We are happy that NIMET and NIHSA are always improving on the use of science and technology to give us credible and actionable hydro meteorological early warning to avert disasters.
Another milestone recorded by the Mustapha administration is the building of trust and confidence among the agency’s partners and suppliers, who have tremendous respect for the Director General who runs an open and transparent administration.
It is little wonder that even in the face of daunting financial challenges the agency enjoys the patronage of its suppliers and support of its partners.
Two months ago, the United States for International Development sponsored a workshop for disaster mitigation in Abuja that brought together over 200 key stake holders from different states and partner agencies to discuss new strategies for improving disaster management in Nigeria.
In his continued efforts to strengthen inter-agency collaboration, the NEMA Director General few months ago paid a courtesy call on the newly appointed Chief of Air Staff, Mohammed Hassan during which he commended the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) for its support with emergency logistics.
According to him, “NEMA will always count on the support of the Nigerian Air Force as a critical partner especially in the areas of search and rescue operations, medical evacuation and the air drop of relief materials to inaccessible locations during sudden onset disasters and emergencies.”
During the visit, Mustapha received the cheering news that the NAF will avail its 22 Disaster Response Units located across the country for deployment to support NEMA operations.
Mustapha accords priority to sensitization and mass mobilisation of citizens against disaster which is why he engages with states and other ministries, department and agencies to build a synergy and comprehensive plan for mitigating disasters through United Nation’s backed risk reduction approach.
He left no stone unturned in letting the state governors and state emergency management agencies know the importance of adopting a proactive approach to disaster management which reduces both the effect and consequences of disasters.
His efforts are gradually paying off as several governors have visited NEMA to register their support for the agency to achieve its mission and promise to carry the message back to their citizens. The visits by Plateau State Governor and Deputy Governor of Anambra State stand out as they spoke well about NEMA’s intervention in their states.
The staff of the agency too have not been left out in Musptapha’s giant stride to improve the performance of NEMA. He has established an open governance system that gives staff a voice to contribute to the overall success of the agency.
Since his assumption of office, the NEMA staff are getting their promotions as and when due. No staff needs to lobby to be promoted. This has boosted the morale of staff and management and endeared him to his loyal staff.
“I restored the morale of NEMA staff and established industrial harmony between management and staff. Together with all of NEMA staff we are working hard to bring back NEMA to its past glory, and take it to greater heights,” said Mustapha,
Through his personal engagement with the presidency, Mustapha secured approval for the renovation of the headquarters of the National Emergency Management Agency which is now wearing a new look. This has boosted staff morale and image of the agency before the general public.
Drawing from his private sector and supply chains experience, Mustapha has given NEMA a credible, purposeful, and visionary leadership that promotes transparency, accountability and value for money in discharging the mandate of the agency.
As Mustapha himself articulated, “NEMA needs more funding to enable it respond effectively to disasters, ensure complete recovery and also to work hard towards disaster risk reduction in Nigeria and beyond in the face of increasing rate of occurrence of disasters not only in Nigeria but across the world.”
He believes that Nigeria is the hope of Africa because once it gets it right, the rest of West African countries will follow its footsteps.
Mustapha Habib Ahmed wants to leave a legacy as someone that has transformed NEMA into the flagship of disaster management in Africa, and built a well informed and better resilient Nigerian citizenry.
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