No fewer than 20 community emergency responders on disaster management are participating in a two-day training programme, which began on Thursday in Lagos.
It was organised by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
The Minister in charge of the ministry, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, said the training was aimed at enhancing the capabilities of the community first responders.
The News Agency Of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister was represented by Mr Charles Araelo, the Deputy Director in the ministry.
She said the ministry was created with the strategic mandate of coordinating all humanitarian activities.
“The capacity building is aimed at enhancing the capabilities of the community first responders in protection, preparedness and coordinated response to address the specific needs.
“It is also aimed at mitigating the vulnerabilities of persons of concern and handle the possible long term impacts of crises in the community.
“It is equally targeted at raising awareness and integrating emergency-specific consideration of migrants, potential migrants and migration related issues.
“The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development was created with the strategic mandate of coordinating all humanitarian activities and actors.
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“This is to ensure seamless response and delivery to the Persons of Concern (PoCs) and the affected communities,” the minister said.
She added that the ministry had been proactively reviewing the existing legal frameworks, mapping the stakeholders and designing frameworks for the coordination of disaster management.
“The ministry has also been building the capacity of all actors to reposition them to the emerging realities.
“Thus, the ministry believes that enhancing your capabilities on migration issues related to disasters must include training.
“This is the surest means of guarantying that you meet the needs of the affected communities at the inception of the incident and disaster, as your roles are always at the initial phase of the disaster,” she said.
The minister said that the training had been carefully designed to guide the participants to understand the effect of disasters on migration and how to mitigate such.
“You are also expected to acquire the ability to appropriately respond to migration resulting from disasters,” she said.
The two-day training was attended by community emergency responders from the South-West, South-East and South-South Zones.
One of the participants, Mrs Mbah Chinansa, from Enugu State, said the workshop would enhance her capacity building and help in improving her performances in emergency response. (NAN)
