ABUJA – Mr Dale Sands, the Senior Vice President, AECOM Environment, has urged companies and businesses to engage in Disaster Risk Reduction activities, to prevent losses caused by disaster.
Sands made the call at the ongoing 5th Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (AfRP) on Thursday in Abuja.
Sands, who was a discussant on the topic “Investment in DRR: The Business Case’’ stressed the importance of the involvement of the private sector in disaster prevention and mitigation.
According to him, all businesses are directly or indirectly affected whenever disasters occur.
Also, the representative of Shell Petroleum Development Company, Mr Bolarinwa Olapo, who is also the company’s Sustainable Development Manager, urged the private sector to invest in disaster mitigation and prevention.
He said businesses should invest in disaster mitigation in the environments they operate.
He said Shell had contributed to the provision of relief assistance to victims of the 2012 flooding in Nigeria.
According to him, Shell is involved actively in the provision of relief materials and other assistance in the Niger Delta.
Olapo said, Shell had moved away from the usual relief materials and assistance to victims to providing relevant information to agencies on the proactive measures need to reduce the impact of disaster.
Also speaking, a former Rwandan Minister of Environment, Mrs Patricia Hajabakiga, stressed the need for companies and businesses to undertake measures aimed at reducing the impact of disasters on their immediate communities.(NAN)
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