AS Nigeria battles to contain the terror campaign of Boko Haram, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Mohammed Sani Sidi, on Friday, cautioned Nigerians against gathering around emergency and explosion sites, saying that this often disrupts rescue operations to save victims.

He deplored the act of people struggling to catch a glimpse of scenes of bomb blasts, fire incidents and other disaster situations, which he noted had always made access and rescue work difficult to accomplish.

Sidi, who described disaster management as everybody’s business gave the warning in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at a workshop organised by NEMA on sensitisation and effective evacuation of victims at emergency sites.

Represented by the Assistant Coordinator NEMA, South-South zone, Mr. Godwin Tepikor, the NEMA boss pointed out that most of the explosions witnessed in the country, particularly in the North, were targeted at public institutions and urged the people to assist those in distress during emergency situations by creating sufficient distance and space for rescue operations.

While contending that the urge by some Nigerians to rush to emergency sites also culminated in the destruction of forensic evidences, he asserted that “the time has come for us to steer clear of disaster scenes, with a view to guaranteeing our own safety and allow rescue workers, including NEMA, Red Cross, Fire Service and security agencies to carry out their duties unhindered.”

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Struggling Nigerian
written by Okonko C, June 23, 2012

In every emergency situation, it is human to rush to the scene to see what happened and how to assist. But its the work of the law enforcement egencies to secure the scene and create space for emaergency workers to do thier job. I observed the recent DANA air crash and how mass of people at the scene made it difficult for emergency workers to perform.The question I asked myself was where was the police to secure the scene. The Director should rather educate the police what their job is in emergencies rather than talking to people who would not listen unless forced to.

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