By Ruth Oketunde
Abuja: T?he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is seeking collaboration with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to deliver quality medicaments to disaster victims.
This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Manzo Ezekiel, Head, Public Relations, NEMA, on Tuesday in Abuja.
Mr Mustapha Ahmed, Director-General, NEMA, made the request when he paid a courtesy visit to the NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye.
Ahmed said that the paradigm shift adopted by NEMA toward disaster risk reduction and building of a national resilience could not be achieved without the support of partner agencies like NAFDAC.
“Nigeria in recent times is confronted with significant humanitarian crises.
“Nature induced hazards, especially floods, windstorms, marine, gully erosion, desertification amongst others which are constantly exacerbated by climate change and variability have also posed great challenge to development planning across socio-economic sectors.
“The cocktail of challenges has been complicated by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant physical and emotional lockdowns in global economic sectors.
“The good news, however, is that as an outcome of lessons learnt under crises, NEMA is adopting to the new normal and is getting better prepared for improved service delivery, developing technology and building new networks to confront old and emerging challenges.
“NAFDAC’s mission of safeguarding public health by ensuring that only the right quality drugs, foods and other regulated products are manufactured, imported, distributed, advertised, sold and used in Nigeria, is in tandem with NEMA’s mandate of disaster management coordination and building of national resilience,” he said.
In her response, Adeyeye assured of the readiness of her agency to collaborate with NEMA, especially to enhance the quality of supports given to Internally Displaced Persons affected by insurgency and other related disasters in the country. (NAN) www.nannews.ng / Flowerbudnews
