News | ANA President Calls For A Rethink On Natural Disaster Management In Nigeria
The President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA),
Mr. Denja Abdullahi, has called on the governments at all levels and
Stakeholders in environmental management to begin to explore innovative and
creative dynamics to fight recurring natural disasters in the country.
Reacting to the recent flood disaster in Makurdi, Benue
state that claimed lives and destroyed properties and farmlands, the ANA
President in a Press Statement called on the government and stakeholders to pay
serious attention to climate change in the country and work beyond the usual
policy document.
According to him, “It is also the position of the Association
that serious attention should be given to climate change issues in our society
beyond the usual policy document”.
The ANA President charged Nigerian creative writers to
engage their skills, books and other creative works to articulate issues of the
environment and climate change in order to aid the public awareness effort of
the government, while also enjoining the government and the organised private
sector to support the effort to reinvigorate and bring back into the scheme of
ANA awards the literary prizes on environmental writing previously sponsored by
Chevron and the NDDC which were later
discontinued by these organizations.
Mr. Abdullahi also charged the authorities to equip
Nigeria’s educational institutions with personnel, facilities and statutory support
to enhance teaching and learning of climate change and environmental
sustainability from the perspective and diversity of the different disciplines
of the arts, culture, sciences and technology with ample reference to the
existing indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in Nigerian communities.
While expressing the association’s condolences with the
victims, as well as the government and people of Benue State over the disaster,
Mr. Abdullahi observed that it is yet another pointer of threats to sustainable
development and better livelihood not only in Benue State but in the entire
country.
He observed that, there is “the need to envision a
framework and strategy for disaster management in the country should look
beyond the existing governmental Agencies and integrate expert knowledge,
experience and tools from a wide spectrum of stakeholders in the public,
private sectors, academia, non-governmental organizations, policy makers,
military and paramilitary services, nationally and internationally.
Mr. Abdullahi was of the view that the frequency of similar
disasters in other parts of the country should provide the country with
sufficient data and model for effective future management of disasters of this
nature. This therefore necessitates the need to adopt multidisciplinary measures
and expertise to confront.
He
called on well meaning Nigerians to assist the victims with relief materials to
cushion their hardship.
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