Abuja -The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has commenced the 2015 Operation Eagle-eye to check road accidents and provide quick response to accident victims on the country’s highways.
Operation Eagle-eye is an annual event by the agency which started in 2013 to support the effort of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) during the ember months to prevent road accidents.
Mr Ishaya Chonoko, the Coordinator, Abuja Operation Office said on Thursday that out of the 1,264 accidents responded to, 218 deaths had been recorded since its inception.
According to Chonoko, 4,852 persons were involved in the accidents, while 1,749 persons were part of the injured and 2,885 were physically injured during the period under review.
Chonoko said that the establishment of the programme was an effort to support the UN decade of action against road traffic injuries between 2010 and 2020.
He said that NEMA was able to record very low emergencies in 2015 due to the collaboration among stakeholders in the emergency response.
He, however, called for more synergy between the emergency agencies such as the Police, Nigerian Civil Defence Corps, FRSC, Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to arrest the ugly trend of disasters.
Mr Ahmed Rufai-Hamis, the Deputy Director, Forecasting Response and Mitigation, NEMA called on stakeholders to emulate the gesture of NEMA by buying sophisticated equipment for quick response to emergencies.
He said that if such specialise equipment were readily available such gesture would further deepen the collaboration among emergency stakeholders.
“If all these equipment are readily available, we will know who to call and who can response to certain capacity based on the type of equipment they have.
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“If all the equipment are available, we don’t have to rely solely on private contractors, so I encourage all stakeholders present here to procure more equipment for emergency responses,’’ he said.
Mr Eshiet Udemu, the Head of Operation, FCT Sector Command of the FRSC, commended the efforts NEMA over the support the agency is rendering to the corps during emergencies.
Udemu, who represented the FCT Sector Commandant, Mr Sunday Oghenekaro, said that the corps would continue to collaborate with NEMA in during emergencies.
He called for closer collaboration among stakeholders to overcome issues in the emergency sector. (NAN)
