Ex-NEMA director advocates special salary scale for emergency workers
A former Deputy Director, Planning, Research and Forecasting of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Iyiola Akande, has advocated special salary scale and insurance policy for emergency workers in the country.
Akande made the request on Monday in an interview in Akure on the sideline of the agency’s 2019 annual staff retreat on restructuring and re-engineering for effective and efficient disaster management.
He said: “Special welfare package and comprehensive insurance should be provided for staff of NEMA, especially because of the nature of their job that does not respect the time of the day.
“I think they deserve some incentive in terms of special salary package, I know it will encourage them to achieve more.”
Akande said he was happy that the retreat had been revived to accommodate all staff members of the agency, saying the programme was restricted to management cadre in the past.
Earlier, in an address of welcome, Mr Olusegun Afolayan, Head of NEMA, Ekiti Operations Office, commended the Director-General of the agency, Mr Mustapha Maihaja, for approving the retreat.
Afolayan said that the agency was undergoing various restructuring and re-engineering under the watch of the present director-general designed to meet globally accepted standard procedures in carrying out humanitarian activities.
He said the retreat would provide the platform to look at the national disaster management framework, natural contingency plan, natural disaster response plan, search and rescue evaluation, among others.
Afolayan said that part of the functions of the agency was to educate and inform the public on disaster prevention and control.
He further said that the agency also engages in the sensitisation of the key arms of government to embrace disaster management, in terms of minimising the effects of disaster and bringing relief to victims.
