President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Air Vice Marshall Muhammadu Alhaji Muhammed (Rtd.) as the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on 30th April, 2020, for an initial period of 4 years. Since then NEMA has been undergoing a positive turnaround for the best in its disaster management mandate in Nigeria, shedding the toga of mismanagement and inefficiency with which it had been associated for a long while.
“In practical terms, disaster management will seek to mobilize resources of all relevant bodies and organizations, national or international, towards preparedness, prevention, mitigation, emergency response and recovery” So said the DG during his first media briefing on 21st May 2020.
AVM Muhammed is one of the most eminent generals who have helped sow the seeds of national development in the soil of this country. At NEMA, he has brought flexibility, innovation, creativity and culture of empathy to bear on the staff. This has given rise to a culture of efficiency and prompt response to distress calls and disaster management. Within a short period this became noticeable, and led to the success in the management of the 2020 flood crisis. Today it reflects in the discipline ways things are handled NEMA.
The appointment of this brilliant Air Force officer, who did the profession a lot of good, was a milestone decision by President Muhammadu Buhari. And it remains one of the best decisions of the current administration in effort to restore confidence and credibility to the agency. For him, innovation and development at every level and in every field of human endeavor is necessary. Due to his foresight, in always giving priority to issues of safety and security, he has been able to bring NEMA out of the darkness and into the light in recent years. And that has brought to an end years of controversies and confusions in leadership of the agency.
AVM Muhammed came to NEMA with a vast wealth of experience and achievements to benefit the nation and disaster management. He was a former Chief of Policy and Plans at the Nigerian Airforce before his retirement. A holder of prestigious national and international flying licenses and recipient of several distinguished military service honours, he had also held other operational and strategic positions in the Nigerian Airforce that include the Air Secretary, Air Officer Commanding Tactical Air Command, Air Officer Commanding Logistics Command and Managing Director of Nigerian Airforce Investment.
He has flown several aircraft types which include: Air Force One (B737 BBJ), Alpha Jet, Gulf Stream 550, Dassault Falcon 900, Citation Jet, L39 ZA and Bulldog 123. His decorations include General Service Star (GSS), Pass Staff College(PSC) and Fellow Defence College among others.
This huge experience he has put on display at NEMA in its disaster management, making prompt response a priority under his leadership. Before his appointment, the President was obviously not happy with the ways emergency cases were being managed despite the increasing spate of disasters in Nigeria, with many lives often being affected, communities devastated and environments negatively impacted. Some of these include flooding, fire disasters, terror attacks, sudden collapse of houses. Then corruption cases of outright diversion of relief materials for victims of disaster were also in the dirty baggage.
Then it was established that disasters were made worse by lack of prompt response by NEMA personnel. Then there comes the challenge of evacuation of victims to safer areas. These two issues made many to view the agency with contempt as being too slow and inefficient. The appointment of Air Vice Marshal Muhammed changed this perception of inefficiency, as he promptly restored trust and efficiency in NEMA.
Being aware of the problems in the agency, the DG took the responsibility to serve with altruism to restore its focus in the service to humanity. As soon as he assumed office, AVM Muhammed gradually began to re-establish the lost partnership of the agency with its critical stakeholders including the supervising ministry, National Assembly, States Emergency Management Agencies and the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). This is because he believes that timely rescue intervention could save a lot of precious lives.
He observed that there was a general lack of proper education and enlightenment and a near total absence of disaster management and response initiatives in many states of the county. This is worst at the level of the local council as most of the 774 local government area councils have become dysfunction due to lack of disaster management structures at the grassroots level. This is especially so with fire and flood.
Of course, nearly all countries operate a reactive approach to fire, which a major concern is given the limited resources usually deployed to put out a fire. But a lack of proper education and enlightenment on this makes matter worse in Nigeria. About 7% of Nigeria burns annually mostly caused by human actions. Unfortunately, there is very little capacity for fire monitoring and management in the country. Existing fire management approaches are ineffective and spatially limited. Trends in fire occurrence are poorly documented and this makes it difficult to assess changes in fire regimes and relate this to natural resource productivity in the region.
AVM Muhammed felt there was a need to put workable disaster management infrastructure into proper use for the benefit of the people. Training and capacity building is also important to him, since NEMA is responsible for the preparation of human resources. He ensured this in the six geo-political zones so that he could better coordinate the human resources development of the agency in addition to catering to the training needs of the stakeholders.
Thus he began to build synergy with the 36 states disaster management outfits. Then he deployed flood assessment and response teams to different states while collaborating with stakeholders.
The renewed rapport was responsible for the success in the management of the 2020 flood. For instance, the Nigerian Air force in collaboration with the agency used its specialized surveillance aircraft to conduct aerial assessments of the flood plains along River Niger from Kebbi State to Kogi State. The deployment of flood assessment and response teams comprising of NEMA and stakeholders staff to affected states was made easier because of the synergy with the various states’ governments and their respective emergency management agencies.
AVM Muhammed recognizes the importance of media as a veritable tool in public sensitization on disaster prevention, preparedness, mitigation and response in line with NEMA’s mandate on disaster awareness. He regularly tells NEMA’s staff to work smart and fast for the safety of lives and properties of Nigerian citizens. He also emphasizes the need for collectivism in disaster management, and always expresses the need for transparency in the management of the agency’s resources and assured that media would be actively involved to keep the public abreast of its activities.
Recall his inaugural media briefing on 21 May, 2020, where the DG sought to mobilize available resources on the fight against disasters. At that time, he assured of his commitment to uphold public trust and confidence as DG NEMA. He promised to effectively respond to disasters as they occur and even before they occur. “..little can be done to avert the occurrences of these disasters. What is important therefore is to effectively respond and mitigate the effect of disasters once they occur”.
At that time, He also said staff would be equipped with the requisite knowledge through trainings to ensure they give the best whenever called upon. Then the DG unveiled his roadmap to reinvent and reinvigorate disaster management in Nigeria. These included deliberate efforts on disaster awareness and risk reduction, targeting 100% of Nigerians. He promised to work with the States Government and other stakeholders towards the development of disaster resilience in communities through the implementation of the Sendai Framework of Action.
AVM Muhammed knows his briefs so much. And he understands the full weight of the challenges involved, imperative for human capacity, equipment as well as need for a culture of empathy on the part of staff. And practices like slow response to disaster issues or diversion of relief materials by officials have become things of the past, with a culture of transparency instituted.
In October 2020, NEMA distributed relief materials to 715 households ravaged by flood in Paikoro and Bosso local government areas of Niger State. Mrs Lydia Wagami, head of NEMA, Minna Operations Office, represented by Alhaji Hussaini Isah, head, Search and Rescue Unit, flagged off the distribution of the relief items at Maikunkele in Bosso local government secretariat.
Wagami, said the flood disaster which occurred in August, affected 715 households and farmlands in 57 communities of the two local government areas. She noted that the director general of NEMA, AVM Muhammed, directed the Minna operations office to assess the level of damage in order to provide relief assistance to the affected persons.
According to her, “It was based on the assessment report that President Muhammadu Buhari who is always passionate about reaching the grassroots approved the relief items for the affected persons.” She added that the relief items were to ameliorate the hardship caused by the flood on the people.
The retired military officer with vast experience and records of achievements as a fighter pilot, he understands the imperative for human capacity and proper use of equipment. Bringing this to bear, the Director General said he will ensure availability and workability of necessary search and rescue equipment that could be deployed whenever the need arises. He identified also as priority, the strengthening of institutions for Disaster Management at the lower level of Governance (states and local governments). This would translate into the much desired strengthening of collaboration and coordination with all humanitarian actors from Federal down to the community level.
The process for repositioning and re-invigoration of NEMA for better coordination and management of disasters to save lives in Nigeria have begun under the leadership of AVM Muhammed.
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