THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it is making arrangement to take advantage of the August Meeting in the South-east to sensitise women on safety measures.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that August Meeting is an age-old annual event where women gather to discuss development issues in their communities.

The meeting is tagged “August Women Mass Return’’.

Walson Ibarakumo, the NEMA Zonal Director, told NAN in Enugu on Friday that women were critical stakeholders in the issue of disaster mitigation and management.

He said that the agency had opened communication lines with many women groups in the zone with a view to starting massive sensitisation.

He said that the agency had been meeting with them, but planned to use this year’s forum to reach out to other segments of the women folks.

According to him, the move to sensitise women is highly imperative as they remain one of the most vulnerable groups when disasters occur.

“We have brainstormed and found out that sensitising the women and getting them to key into NEMA warnings and guidelines will further help the agency.

“It is clear that they will help the agency take the massage of disaster mitigation and management as well as warnings back home to their husbands, sons, brothers, cousins and nephews.

“These other people are men, who will help the female folks to act on time and properly when disasters occur or help them plan for emergency, especially when a warning is already given.

“Or better still, there is nothing bad for a family, through the woman, to fashion out emergency or disaster response plans and take other members of the family into the need to follow it for the benefits of their families,’’ he said.

NAN reports that in some South-east communities, resolutions in women meetings serve as “pseudo-law which must be enforced to the letter by members. (NAN)

– Aug. 3, 2018 @ 12:39 GMT |