From Okwe Obi, Abuja
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) struck a deal on Tuesday on research and training of students and staff to effectively tackle natural hazards.
NEMA Director-General Air Vice Muhammadu Mohammed (retd), who spoke in Abuja during a courtesy visit by NSUK management led by its Vice-Chancellor, Prof Suleiman Mohammed, explained that the partnership would promote human security.
‘Everybody here will like to add knowledge and we will like to improve and you all remember the agreement we had from the beginning that all our problems and challenges in NEMA would be solved scientifically.
‘So, if we have Nasarawa State University, why do you want to go too far to get a solution to your problems? Whatever it is that we have to do, we have people that will make sense of the situation for us.
‘We are going to start coming to you as research is a fundamental thing in NEMA, we are going to collaborate and we will do everything within our power to ensure NSUK prosper,’ he said.
Prof Mohammed, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, added that the partnership would add value to both institutions
‘Going through the mandate that set up NEMA, we can see that NEMA deals with human security and what we are doing in the Institute of Governance and Development Studies is security and strategic studies.
‘So, human security is a key sector of the security studies we are carrying out so we are asking for collaboration because we know that NEMA staff are on the field, while we in the academic sector are doing the theoretical aspect.
‘So, by coming together, we will blend and add value to what NEMA is doing and also add value to what the Institute of Governance and Development Studies at the Nasarawa State University,’ he said.
On his part, Director of Institute of Governance and Development Studies, NSUK, Prof Andrew Zamani
added that the collaboration would help NEMA achieve its mandate and enrich its policies.
‘We believe that we have a lot to contribute not only in the aspect of collaborating in the aspect of research and training but also in the aspect of providing tools for NEMA to interrogate issues that it encounters that are new on the field on a daily basis.
‘We have contributions to make in the aspect of policies enrichment, rehabilitation and I believe that the issues of peace and conflicts resolution are not apparent to what NEMA does.
‘But I know that when you do search and rescue, there is hostility that you find on the field, which I believe our institute has the capacity to complement NEMA on,’ he said.