No fewer than 3,600 major stakeholders nationwide are expected to be trained on emergency response and evacuation techniques by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Mr Emenike Umesi, the South-South Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, disclosed this in Calabar on Friday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Umesi and his team were in Calabar to conduct Evacuation Drill for Public Servants in Cross River in collaboration with the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
Umesi said that NEMA would train stakeholders from the six states in the south-south zone within one month.
“NEMA has instituted a programme to train 100 major stakeholders per state.
''We intend to do this in collaboration with SEMA and the Red Cross, the only NGO established by an Act of Parliament in Nigeria.
“Before the end of one month, we would have completed the training in the six states within the south-south geo-political zone.’’
Umesi said the stakeholders included the public service, security agencies, para-military organisations, the NYSC, and the media.
He said the team was in Calabar to sensitise people on emergency situations in the country.
“We in Calabar will sensitise people on situations of emergencies in the country and use evacuation drills to highlight some of the hazards we have around us.
“Today, we are using fire in a public building as a scenario for this exercise. And in this exercise we have discovered that most of the public buildings around here do not have gadgets that could assist people when emergencies occur.
“We expect that we will be able to educate on the basic skills of emergency management at least so that they can respond and render the basic service they are supposed to render before help comes.
“If there is a minor fire, say in the kitchen, we expect for instance that the cook should understand that she can cover the pot with a wet blanket and the fire will go off.’’
He said that NEMA also expected that the average person working in an office should know about the exit points,? fire extinguishers, and points to trigger alarm.
Umesi said that people working in a public building were also expected to know what to do when emergencies occur, that there were “muster points. ’’
NAN reports that the drill took place at the Department of Special Duties at the State Secretariat, Calabar.? (NAN)