Mark Bemoans Frequent Seminars Without Action
ABUJA, June 29, (THEWILL) - Senate President, Mr. David Mark today decried the frequency of seminars, workshops and conferences carried out in the country without results, saying time has come for action plan on how best to checkmate the various　problems affecting the nation.
Mark bared his mind　at the start of the one-day national conference on Environmental Disaster Management in Nigeria with the theme: ‘to access the level of preparedness of stakeholders, equipment and human resource capabilities in the event of any unforeseen emergency in Nigeria’ put together by Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology.
"Do we have any plan in this country for serious disaster? No. For instance the issue of erosion in the South East, government must take deliberate effort to tackle them. The issue here today is when something suddenly goes wrong. We must seriously address how to coordinate activities of the response agencies to meet the emergencies," he said.
"Soil degradation in the Niger Delta should be squarely addressed. The nation has never tackled it head-on to find a solution to act, they may appear small now, and then, on the long run it would have serious impact. On paper tings are okay but how do you translate it into practical. Nigeria has all it takes to put the minimum requirements in place but the political will power is not there," he lamented.
According to Mark; "We have no plan yet in terms of disaster management. The issue here is not that of climate change or ecosystem or desertification. It is about emergency management. Prompt reaction to disaster.　 If flood happens in Abuja many people will die.
In his speech at the occasion, the Chairman Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, Senator Folashade Bent, expressed dismay over the attendant consequence of the occurrence of any natural disaster in the country.
She said; "developing countries like ours are likely to suffer most because we lack the capacity to cope with natural disasters, and will continue to pay a heavy toll in casualties and destroyed infrastructure.
"The spate of global and local environmental disasters and their destruction of infrastructure and human resources, stare us in the face, ranging from earthquakes to wild fires, volcanic eruption, flooding, drought to name but a few.
"Even though our country is not located within the zone that is highly prone to natural disaster, it is still imperative on the nation to be well prepared for the unpredictable."
According to her, "this forum should therefore be seen as a beginning of a national synergy of efforts aimed at reiterating the essence of our responsibility to the people of this country.