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| THE TRAINING WAS FOR EMERGENCY SITUATIONS LIKE THIS |
Partnering the National Emergency Managemt Agency (NEMA),
Nigerian Navy (NN) and other agencies, the Office of the National Security
Adviser (ONSA), yesterday in Lagos coordinated a crisis response training for
agencies in the maritime sector.
Codenamed Exercise Ajowa, the emergency training which was
carried out at eight nautical miles South-east of the Lagos Fairway Buoy, was
done in conjunction with the European Critical Maritime Routes in the Gulf of
Guinea (CRIMGO) to enhance interagency cooperation in maritime crisis
situation.
Hosted by the Western Naval Command (WNC), under the command
of the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Rear Admiral Sanmi Alade, with series of
lectures on disaster management and National Disaster Response Plans, the
exercise culminated into a sea exercise whereby all the necessary stakeholders
had the simulation of the real-life situation.
Other agencies that took part in the exercise were the
Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Custom Service (NCS), maritime arm of
the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and Nigerian Maritime
and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
Speaking with journalists, the FOC, Rear Admiral Alade said,
"At sea, a scenario based on a maritime disaster played out and various
agencies acted out their parts in the rescue operation, the objective, which
was to assess the level of coordination of agencies in response to a maritime
disaster.
"It is part of the National strategy to enhance
national response to disasters and it is
hoped that as we go along, the objectives of this partnership will be greatly
enhanced."
The Project Coordinator, European Union CRIMGO, Eric Glotin,
said the exercise is a collaboration whereby seven different agencies work
together to solve the challenges that arise in emergency situations.
He said, "We have three aims for this exercise and one
is operation, the second is assessment and the third is communication in
crisis. It is important because security is paramount.
"We are here to support in two ways, one of which is to
have a proper picture of response to emergency and the other is to teach how to
communicate with the press in emergency situations because many stakeholders
are not prepared to communicate with the press."
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