The Ekiti government has commended the federal government for restructuring the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

The federal government’s restructuring of NEMA led to its decentralisation and the creation of a zone of the agency in each of the country’s six geopolitical zones.

Receiving NEMA South-West zonal director Stephen Adewale on Thursday, Deputy Governor Monisade Afuye said, “We now have a NEMA Zonal Director in Ibadan and Head of Operations for Ekiti and Ondo states in Akure.

Ms Afuye added, “We can easily reach out to them rather than experiencing delays in the handling of disaster matters relating to Ekiti. Ekiti is still having 2023 outstanding relief materials with NEMA that are yet to be released.

“With this restructuring, we are hoping that they will be released timely, while also looking up to receiving the ones that we will request in the future.”

She called on NEMA to release pending relief materials due to Ekiti expeditiously so that more people would benefit.

“Let me, on behalf of Ekiti state government, thank President Bola Tinubu for carrying out this restructuring. It will ease the rigour we used to face in dealing with disaster matters,” stated the deputy governor.

She described the restructuring as a timely way of boosting emergency management across Nigeria.

Ms Afuye also noted that establishing zonal directorates of NEMA across the six geopolitical zones would make the agency more effective in discharging its responsibilities.

She commended Mr Tinubu for the apt and timely restructuring, saying this would help expedite the handling of disasters.

The deputy governor pledged to support NEMA with unalloyed support from Governor Biodun Oyebanji.

She also assured that the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency would collaborate fully with NEMA to handle disaster issues holistically and more professionally.

Mr Adewale explained that NEMA’s restructuring was undertaken so that each geopolitical zone now has a Zonal Director to oversee its affairs.

Adewale also explained that the restructuring was intended to engender quicker decision-making in disaster management and better delivery of relief materials to Nigerians.

On February 26, the federal government ordered NEMA to merge with the National Commission for Refugee, Migration and Internally Displaced Persons.

The decision was made as part of the steps to implement the Steve Oronsaye report on re-engineering the federal civil service. The Oronsaye committee submitted its report to the administration of then-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.

(NAN)