‘’It
is always pleasant to be urged to do something on the ground that one can do it
well.’’
-George
Santayana
Photo: Top, Alhaji Abbas Idriss , DG,FEMA Bottom:
Vice President Osinbanjo, middle, FCT Minister Muhammed Bello
, left & Abbas Idriss
By Ahmed Dodo
In an interview he granted SEE Magazine few years ago, Alhaji Abbas Idriss, the Director
General of the FCT Emergency Agency (FEMA), made a statement that has remain
indebted in my conscious. Responding to
a question on an initiative he was credited to have mused as a professional
disaster manager on the need to have a Local Emergency Management Committee
with a strong grassroots footing, he said:
‘’
The general belief and emphasis is that emergency management cannot be done by
this single agency and it must involve everybody and for you to really meet the
requirement and get proper results , you need to go deep down the grassroots.
That is the reason why the idea of having Local Emergency Management Committee
came to the fore. We believe they are the first respondents. We decided to implement
and create Local Emergency Management Committee, so that they can be near the
people and also respond before our arrival.’’ He went further to explained, ‘’
You can agree with me that before you fly or go by road to fight an emergency,
definitely there would have been some number of casualties before your arrival.
But once you have some people trained and stationed there to manage such
incidence, you would have fewer casualties.’’
These were the words of this insightful disaster
manager whose foray into disaster management in Nigeria has been acknowledged
not only in the country, but globally, for his efficiency and effective
management of emergency situations as the Director General of the FCT Emergency
Mnagement Agency (FEMA). His approach to disaster management is acknowledge as
one of the best initiatives in disaster management in the country, given the
fact that he has always been proactive in his style and always on ground to
fight an tame many of the emergency situations that had threatened the Federal
Capital Territory since his appointment.
Abbas Idriss and his team have been noted to always
be the first on ground in most of these life threatening scenes. He and his team
held the record of being the first government agency to arrive the scene of the
deadly EMAB shopping plaza bomb blast that occurred in Abuja few years ago. He was
equally on ground with his team at the scene of the Four-Storey building that collapsed
in Jabi recently. His Search and Rescue
Team was also on ground to search for the drowned body of a boy drowned in
Orozo River, when 12 children went to swim in the river and two of them were
drowned. The FEMA team was also conspicuous at the famous Mpape and Maitama
earth tremor that occurred not quite long in the territory.
Writing about some of the Director General’s achievements
and proactive involvement in disaster management in the country would take much
space in this article, but all the same, I think it is logical to enumerate
some of his vision and accomplishment as the pioneer Director General of FEMA
and equally commend him for a job well done.
One quality that has glued to Abbas Idriss like a
second skin is his penchant for always being proactive in his reasoning and
actions; part of the reason why FEMA under his care proactively moved to save markets
and other structures in the FCT from fire disasters by creating a special Fire
Marshal, the first of its kind in the country.
A man who is known to speak his mind frankly, he had
during one of his interviews with newsmen emphasized the need for a full
implementation and enforcement of laws regulating markets in the territory. He
pointed out that markets were susceptible to fire outbreaks because laws were
not respected. A clear statement that is visible in most of the markets in the
country.
Another attribute of
the Director General of FEMA is his public enlightenment drive on emergency
management. His zeal to ensure that people are enlighten and informed quickly in
emergency situation, by setting up call centres, and giving out safety tips on
radio, the social media and other arms of information dissemination is
commendable. His public enlightenment drive has been acknowledged as a source
of relief to residents of the FCT, who are gradually imbibing Safety Culture by
limiting their domestic and environment risks factors.
A
case in point was the recent news of earth tremor in Mpape, and Maitama Districts
of the FCT. The news came as a shock to many residences of the capital city and
across the country, creating a tensed fear among the people. But Abbas Idriss,
as the Director General of FEMA, had quickly and professional rise up to the
task by quickly dousing off the fear of Nigerians and indeed the world by
stating why the tremor occurred. According to him, ‘’ the tremor was caused by
sudden breaks along a fault line, resulting in sudden release of energy that
makes the ground shake.’’ He pointed out
that rock blasting and mining activities in an area could result in the underground
rocks to experience stress. He then calmed many nerves by urging the public to
remain calm and not to panic by the development. He further assured Nigerians
that the likelihood of any earthquake in the country was low as Nigeria is not
in an earthquake zone. His agency also patriotically issued safety tips for the
public to follow in the event of continued occurrence of tremor.
Abbas
Idriss and his agency has also been active and contributed to ease the plights
of the various Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the country. The
displacement of these Nigerians caused by communal clash and the restive
situation in the North-East led most of them to take refuge in Kwali, and Abaji
Area councils in the FCT. And as usual with his character, the DG and his
vigorous team were on ground to ensure
that the refuges were properly fed and secured in suitable accommodation,
with assurance that the IDPs would be
repatriated, hopefully to their communities of origin, in line with
international law which stipulates that reparation should be ‘’to place of
choice, voluntary and dignified.’’
So it
was no surprise that this quintessential disaster guru was recently awarded
Fellow of The Risk Managers Society of Nigeria (RISCON), this in recognition of
his contribution to risk management and
as a pioneer who has shown and led the way in disaster management and equally brought some innovation to
disaster supervision in the country.
It is the believe of this writer that
Nigeria need more of Abbas Idriss professionalism and innovation in disaster
management not only in the FCT, but equally at the national level, where his proficiency
would benefit all Nigerians across the country. Tackling disaster as he rightly
pointed out need to be proactive, and who better to tame this monster than a
man whose ideas and innovations have helped curtained and averted many
disasters in the nation’s rich capital.
Ahmed Dodo, is the Editor-In-Chief, SEE Magazine
