The National Orientation Agency (NOA), Edo State Directorate, has held a stakeholder engagement at its State Office at Boundary Road in Benin City, focusing on five thematic areas of national concern, which include national reorientation for students aimed at deterring them from extreme practices, the Nigerian Identity Project and National Symbols, flood mitigation, National Security awareness in communities and other issues of national development.
Addressing participants, the Executive Secretary of the Edo State Emergency Management Agency (EdoSEMA), Hon. Jerry Idahosa, urged residents to support Government efforts in flood control by adopting proper waste disposal habits, stressing that indiscriminate dumping of refuse into drains remains a major driver of flooding across the State.
“Government is spending huge resources to open up blocked drains across Edo State, but if we continue to dump refuse into drainage channels, those efforts will amount to nothing”. Idahosa warned.
He explained that EdoSEMA is carrying out early awareness campaigns across all eighteen (18) Local Government Areas, with particular attention to flood-prone communities such as Ilushi in Esan South East, adding that the Agency’s Early Warning System provides real-time alerts to communities and supports responses to fire outbreaks, road crashes, building collapses and banditry, while reminding residents to use EdoSEMA’s toll-free line 739 to report emergencies.
Hon. Idahosa further assured that vulnerable groups, including the elderly, women, children and persons with disabilities, remain a top priority during evacuations, acknowledging reluctance to relocate to Internally Displaced Persons Camps due to mistrust and poor conditions, while pledging that EdoSEMA was working to rebuild confidence by improving Camp Facilities.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Edo State Coordinator of NOA, Osahon Bamidele Woghiren Esq., reiterated that the engagement was designed to mobilize Nigerians around the five thematic areas, stressing that collective action is vital in addressing the nation’s security, identity, disaster preparedness and social reorientation challenges.
The engagement brought together Security Agencies, NEMA, EdoSEMA, Civil Society Groups, students and community leaders, who pledged their support for the National campaign and committed to working together to build safer and more resilient communities.
Edeniyere Abraham Osose
Public Relations Officer
EdoSEMA
PHOTO CAPTION
A cross section of representatives of critical stakeholders at the Stakeholder Engagement at the National Orientation Agency office in Benin City.
