In a bid to ensure effective emergency management at the grassroots, the Lagos State government has held a stakeholders’ meeting on the revitalisation of Local Emergency Management Committees, LEMCs.
At the event in Ikeja, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the objective was to oriented the new leadership at the twenty Council areas and thirty seven Council Development Areas on disaster management being the closest to the grassroots.
Dr Oke-Osanyintolu emphasized that the role of the LEMCs is to bridge the gap between large-scale government disaster strategies and the immediate needs of communities, making them vital for effective disaster management at the grassroots level.
The LASEMA PS who assured Lagos residents of the Agency readiness to combat any disaster during the yuletide, caution against activities that could lead to fire outbreak, gas explosion among other disasters noting that emergency management is everyone’s responsibility.”
Your key roles and responsibilities are Developing Local Emergency Management Arrangements tailored to local risks like floods, fires, or chemical spills, organizing training, exercises drills, and public awareness campaigns, Acting as the first responders, providing immediate aid, issuing warnings, and coordinating local efforts, Supporting community recovery after an incident, Liaising with state agencies” PS maintained.
The Council leaderships represented by all their Vice Chairmen were educated by representatives of different first responders including fire service, LASEPA, Red Cross, FRSC, LASTMA on providing immediate aid and coordination of local effort at grassroots emergency before arrival of state emergency actors.
Speaking on behalf of the Council leadership, Vice Chairman, Ifako Ijaiye LCDA, Mrs Oluwatoyin Awoniyi-Akerele, pledged to work on collaboration with the state disaster management team to ensure safety of lives and property at the grassroots which is their core mandate.
“Nothing can be done without the grassroots.
We are Vice Chairman, we’re supporters to our Chairman and we are ready to work in line with the law that established LASEMA because we are the local people and we know our people, we know the terrain of our place of our local governments so we’re going to be the first responders if there is any disaster in our local governments as the chairmen are the chief security officers of the states, we are their supporters, So we are ready for this because we want to go in line with what our Governor is doing in our state” Akerele said.
The theme of the stakeholders’ meeting is Repositioning Local Emergency Management Committees for effective Grassroots Emergency Coordination in Lagos.
Reporting by Yemisi Dada