Stakeholders chart path to tackle climate change, crisis

Stakeholder has stressed the need for Nigerians to fascinate themselves with the changing trends accrued with climate change and disaster management.

The stakeholders who gathered at the second national conference and induction ceremony of the Emergency, Crisis Risk Management Institute in Lagos recently noted that efforts should be geared towards ensuring mitigation of disasters through adequate awareness and education

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, applauded the institute for training and retraining practising and upcoming professionals in the area of management of risks, crisis, disasters, safety, environmental and risk management especially now that the country is grappling with myriads of man-made and natural disasters.

According to Fashola, efforts should be geared towards ensuring mitigation of disasters through adequate awareness and education.

“People should be discouraged from building too close and under electricity high tension cables, on drains, or waterways or flood plains during dry seasons.

“People should also be sensitized about throwing thrash in gutters and drains which could lead to blockage and consequently in flooding whenever it rains heavily,” he said.

Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, who was represented by Halima Bawa-Bwari stated that climate change has been occurring too rapid in the last 150 to 200 years due to human interventions.

“Human activities are altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere by adding more Green House Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapour and ozone to it.

“These gases absorb and trap the sun’s heat, leading to global warming and its consequent effects,” she said.Mohammed stated that Nigeria’s Climate Change Policy Response and Strategy, a 69 pages document produced by the Federal ministry of environment has enumerated ways of increasing Nigeria’s resilience to climate change.

Director General, National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA), Muhammed Sani-Sidi, commended management of the institute for their contribution towards the development of requisite capacity in disaster management.

Sani-Sidi who was represented by James Akujobi, noted that natural and human-induced disasters, socio-economic and political crisis are recurrent in most developing economy where the capacity to respond to large scale disasters is grossly inadequate.

“With the ever growing world population, rapid urbanization, climate change and investment drive that disregard disaster risk management, the potential for losses or calamities arising from natural and human-induced disasters are growing daily,” he said.

In his keynote address, Director General of Lagos State Safety Commission, Hakeem Dickson, commended the institute for promoting professionalism and best practices and reiterated the commission’s commitment to partner with the institute especially in the area of capacity building.

“It’s high time we join the rest of the world to come up with one goal of sustainable development. It is our duty to go the extra mile towards bequeathing a befitting environment to our future generation,” he said.

Dickson who was represented by Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Lagos, Yinka Adebiyi, said that the present administration has restructured empowered the commission with well-trained personnel and world-class equipment to combat disasters in the state.

He added: “This administration is also fostering strong advocacy towards climate change adoption through the ministry of environment and other related agencies.”

President and Chairman of Council, Onatolu Odukoya, charged members to contribute their professional quota towards the realisation of the institute’s rich objectives in the service of humanity.