Ekiti partners Lagos on disaster management 

Ekiti State Government has dispatched a team of experts to understudy Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and domesticate part of its operations to boost disaster management in Ekiti.

The Ekiti delegation, led by the Permanent Secretary, Deputy Governor’s Office, Mr Opeyemi Abayomi, in the company of the General Manager, Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency, Mr Oludare Asaolu, on Friday visited the LASEMA office in Lagos to cross-fertilise ideas on how to improve responses to emergencies.

Abayomi, in a statement made available in Ado Ekiti on Saturday, said the partnership with Lagos State was in line with Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s resolve to have a safe and secured Ekiti and ensure mitigation of disasters towards the realization of his administration’s shared prosperity mantra.

He stated that the team was deployed to LASEMA to study possible areas of collaboration and to ascertain operations obtainable in Lagos that can be adapted in the state in terms of swift response to emergencies.

Abayomi stated, “In order to have first-hand information on the best practices in emergency management in Lagos State, Governor Oyebanji approved that the team, led by me in the company of EKSEMA General Manager, Director of Fire Services and other experts should undertake a study tour of LASEMA.

“The study tour is to  learn from the expertise of LASEMA, explore areas of collaboration and fashion out ways of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of EKSEMA especially in the areas of emergency and disaster management, including fire services, rapid response initiatives, and ambulance services.

“The team was at the headquarters of LASEMA where they learnt about the integrated approach to disaster management, the Fire Services office, the LASEMA Response Unit at Cappa and its equipment hub, the Internally Displaced Persons camp at Igando, the Onipanu Response Base as well as the Lekki Response Base”.

Abayomi said that the team had engaging sessions with LASEMA PS, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the management team and technical partners and also attended a workshop tagged: ‘Strengthening Flood Resilience in Vulnerable Communities in Lagos State’ to further expose EKSEMA experts and operators to modern techniques and innovations in disaster mitigation and management.

Recall that Oyebanji recently visited LASEMA headquarters in Lagos, where he sought a strong partnership with the agency in critical areas that could be effectively domesticated in Ekiti for improved operation of EKSEMA.

Subsequently, a team of LASEMA experts were drafted to Ekiti to appraise the operational structures and facilities of EKSEMA and all the allied agencies associated with emergency management.