Enugu – The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has urged state governments to compel traders to purchase an insurance policy against fire disasters.
Major James Eze, the out-going Zonal Co-ordinator of NEMA in Enugu, who made the call at a news conference on Wednesday, said that such gesture would enable the government to protect itself from numerous demands for assistance from traders affected by fire disasters.
Eze also said that the compulsion of the traders to purchase fire insurance would help manage disasters.
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“The states should use the compulsory acquisition of insurance as a sword and a shield.
“A sword in the sense that it will use it to manage disasters, and as a shield to protect itself against numerous requests or rather demands for assistance from people, who are affected by fire disasters.
“Now a lot of things happen; people who are engaged in business – you allow your business and wares to be destroyed, something you use 30, 40, 50 years to build, would be destroyed by fire.
“You cannot go and acquire insurance say let me put a hedge against my wares or my business so that when I am suffering a loss, I will not suffer a total loss.
“I will have to insure my items for a million (naira) or two.
“Then when these things happen, you don’t blame them, they don’t have any place to run to.
“They go to government and say `government help me oh; I am distressed’.
“So, the government should make sure that every trader in a market acquires insurance (policy)
“In fact it (insurance cover) should be a license for you to trade.’’
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The zonal co-ordinator, who allayed the fears of traders about insurance policies, said that erring insurers would be sanctioned by the National Insurance Commission.
On NEMA’s activities in the zone, which comprises Enugu, Ebonyi, and Anambra states, Eze said that the agency undertook 27 relief interventions for emergency victims, assessment of 28 disaster situations, and held 11 workshops for stakeholders in disaster management.
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He identified insufficient vehicles as the biggest challenge facing the zonal office of the agency. (NAN)