The director-general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Zubaida Umar, has urged Nigerians to ensure strict adherence to the country’s building codes to avert frequent building collapse and its associated disasters.

Ms Umar stated this when she visited the site of the Saint Academy building collapse and some of the victims on admission in the hospitals on Sunday in Jos.

The director-general, who also paid a courtesy call on Governor Caleb Mutfwang, said the Friday morning school collapse, which claimed the lives of 22 students, with no fewer than 154 others sustaining injuries, was avoidable.

“This is totally avoidable, and it is a huge lesson for us that we need to get all the developers to adhere strictly to the building codes.

“Rather than being reactive, we need to be proactive to avoid this sad situation, and we need the synergy of states to achieve this,” said Ms Umar.

The DG commiserated with the Plateau people and commended rescue teams and the community for their prompt response.

The director-general said she was impressed with the synergy between NEMA and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in handling the disaster.

In his remarks, the governor described what happened on Friday as a test case for the state.

He noted that when he came on board, SEMA was comatose and that people did not appreciate its importance, adding that the organisation had now proved valuable.

“We are proceeding to make sure that SEMA becomes as active as it should be.

“We were hitherto toying with the idea of having an ambulance bay but it has become an absolute necessity now, in view of what we saw on Friday.

“We, therefore, count on your assistance in any way you can to reach out to international organisations that can be of assistance in this regard,” he said.

Mr Mutfwang also said his administration would cascade emergency management to the local governments to ensure that council areas were up and running.

The governor thanked NEMA for its nationalistic approach to disaster management, stressing that this was the kind of synergy expected from the Federal Government and states.

(NAN)