Volunteer Rotarians Corps Initiative to hasten agencies’ low response to emergency

ROTARY International District 9110 has held the third edition of a disaster management training for volunteer corps of Rotarians with the theme: “Light up Rotary through effective volunteerism” at the Rotary District office in Ikeja, Lagos.

   Chairman of the Disaster Relief Committee, Past President Aderemi Ajose, said the purpose of the training was to join hands with other government disaster management agencies, such as fire services, police, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Red Cross, and states’ emergency responders to deliver swift response to emergency and disasters.

   “Rotary International is committed to humanitarian services all over the world without counting cost or returns and has been championing the eradication of polio in the world, which is near extinction. However, this is a departure from all other activities aimed at assisting the less privileged.

   “Since we have realized that the government cannot do it all alone in the area of disaster management, we are presenting ourselves as Volunteer Rotarians to be trained and be ready to assist in the event of any disaster in the country. This is the reason the District Governor, Rotary International, District 9110 comprising Lagos and Ogun states, Dr. Dele Balogun, has approved that the volunteer Rotarians be trained for this purpose.” 

   Ajose charged the volunteer Rotarians corps to be dedicated to the clarion call whenever their services are needed in any part of the federation in line with the Rotary Four Way Test: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendship? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

   The District Governor described the Volunteer Rotarians Corps as an intervention squad that could be of assistance in case of any disaster, though no one prays for such. “Disaster occurs in various ways and we have numerous cases of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) caused by the insurgency in the Northeast. 

   “We also remember the explosion that occurred at the Ikeja cantonment in 2002 where many lives were lost because of poor crowd control and management. Nobody died within the area of the cantonment when the bombs were going off, but a lot of people died in the canal located several kilometers away because of lack of awareness.  

   “The outbreak of Ebola virus in Lagos quickly comes to mind and we believe that Lagos State was able to contain and manage the problem because there were structures on ground. So, because Rotary care about lives and the communities we serve, we have decided to come up with this Volunteer Rotarians Corps initiative,” he said.