By Abdulkadir Ibrahim
Mustapha Habib Ahmed was appointed as the new Director General of NEMA by President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2021.
Following his appointment, I wrote an article titled Mustapha Habib: 100 Days of Strengthening Emergency Preparedness, Response, Mitigation, and Recovery, which was published in several National Dailies to commemorate his 100th day in office.
I attempted to summarize it in the article below.
Despite the fact that the 100-day mark is mostly arbitrary, it has become a significant symbolic threshold for assessing how well a new leader is doing. The first 100 days frequently reveal a leader’s management style, organizational priorities, and other characteristics.
Mustapha Habib Ahmed, the Director General of NEMA, has exceeded all expectations with his accomplishments over the last sixteen months. Almost immediately after the appointment, a review of his resume revealed that he was the one with experience and capability. This resume has been validated, and it has revealed the secret to NEMA’s success under his leadership.
More intriguing is how he formed and created synergy among stakeholders in Nigerian humanitarian activities. His incredible vision, including mentorship and patriotism, has driven him to change the face of emergency management in Nigeria, with various government and non-government organizations donating equipment and relief materials due to the new enhanced accountability structure in ensuring that the items are delivered.
The recent flooding in parts of the country in 2022, as well as NEMA’s response, demonstrated that a lot can be accomplished with the right people in positions of leadership.
For the first time, we saw a well-coordinated disaster management regime, demonstrating that NEMA’s leadership and the Agency were on top of their game through its response to the disaster via early warning and mobilization of state governments through sensitization, as well as the provision of humanitarian assistance to not only flood-affected states, but to all 36 states of the federation in response to President Muhammadu Buhari’s instruction for Distribution of Relief Instructions for the Distribution of Relief Items for Vulnerable People from the Federal Government’s Strategic Grains Reserve to mitigate the impact of food shortages caused by flooding on farmlands.
Nigerians have witnessed changes in the sphere of disaster management in the country since his appointment as NEMA Director General, which can be attributed to the tireless and dedicated efforts of the staff and Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed Habib, who was appointed in June 2021. It is clear that Mustapha Ahmed Habib has changed the country’s approach to disaster management by employing strategic values that have saved lives and billions of Naira in property; as well as maintaining and improving relationships with stakeholders, particularly specialized volunteers involved in disaster relief efforts across the country. Among his notable achievements as Director General of NEMA are:
Acquiring digital communications equipment such as the Hyetera digital system for seamless communication between the Agency’s zonal, territorial, and operations offices to advance the cause of disaster management in Nigeria. Saudi Arabia’s KSF relief center also helped to upgrade the emergency call center by providing mobile field broadband equipment.
Staff and stakeholders are being trained and retrained through regional seminars, conferences, and simulation exercises.
NEMA’s improved early warning alerts have helped greatly in reducing the risk of excessive rainfall, which has resulted in massive flooding.
Improved disaster response, including successfully evacuating stranded Nigerians from troubled countries and reuniting them with their families in Nigeria.
Routine food distribution for internally displaced people in camps and host communities throughout the BAY states (Borno,Adamawa,and Yobe) which are recovering from the effects of insurgency is being implemented smoothly and on time.
Cooperation with international partners and governments has resulted in donations of medicines, food, and non-food relief items from these partners/governments, which include the King Salman Relief Centre in Saudi Arabia, the Jordanian government, and the United Arab Emirates.
Improved staff welfare, which has created a sense of unity, harmony, and purpose among the staff, has increased productivity, prompting the staff unions to present the Director General with the Agency’s first award of excellence.
Mustapha Ahmed Habib, as DG NEMA, has also facilitated the procurement and deployment of search and rescue kits for staff, as well as specialized equipment such as mobile intensive care units, boats, response vehicles, mobile water treatment plants, and so on. NEMA’s air ambulance service was also resurrected.
With an emphasis on disaster risk reduction strategy to promote global best practices, the Director General has been successful in encouraging state governments to adequately fund state emergency management agencies in order to reduce disaster risk.
Abdulkadir Ibrahim, is an Information Officer at NEMA Headquarters Abuja
