SEMA boss demands for ecological fund

Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, Makama suggested that ecological fund as stated in the law that established SEMA, which stated that certain percentage of fund should be given to the agency be made available.According to him, lack of adequate funding is a major challenge facing the agency.“The major challenge of this agency is […]

Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, Makama suggested that ecological fund as stated in the law that established SEMA, which stated that certain percentage of fund should be given to the agency be made available.
According to him, lack of adequate funding is a major challenge facing the agency.
“The major challenge of this agency is funding. If we have adequate funding, we will be better because what we are suppose to do is in term of quick responses when there is disaster or any emergency, if we have adequate funding like NEMA which has certain percentage of ecological fund monthly, it will go a long way in repositioning us for better service delivery and quick response to disaster and emergency demands,” he added.
He said that there were a lot of issues that they find difficult to tackle due to lack of fund. “Even though we get approvals when we submit proposals but only if we can get funds like NEMA, it will go a long to assist us because now if there is any disaster, we have to put in request and until we have cash backing before we can be able to render services to the affected people. But if we have adequate fund, we will be able to respond quickly to any emergency,” he stressed.
Makama said that in the agency’s submission to the governor, they were looking at how they can get some funds every month for the Local Government Emergency Management Committee to enable them tackle some challenges at their level. “We suggested about N500,000.00 monthly,” he noted.
“We also suggested that ecological fund stated in the law that established SEMA that certain percentage should be given to SEMA and he gladly received it and forwarded to the Commissioners for Finance, Economic Planning and Justice for their advise. But the advise from the commissioners was not favourable but I was able to educate the three ministries to understand the need and importance. We quote the relevant sections of our law that established the agency for us to re-position the agency. The documents is still with His Excellency and I know he is going to do something about it,” Makama said.