NSCDC vows to tackle all forms of natural disaster in Ebonyi 

By Uchenna Okeh Abakaliki 

The Nigeria security and civil Defence corps NSCDC Ebonyi State command at the weekend has vowed to increase its efforts in the fight against all forms of natural disaster occurrences, especially in the mining sector.

The Deputy Commandant/ HOD administration/Personnel, DCC, Leonard UBA who spoke to newsmen on behalf of the state commandant, Francis Nnadi, during the Road Walk to mark the 2026 International Civil Defence day ceremony 2026.

The theme for the celebration; “Managing environmental risk for a resilient and sustainable future. 

He said: “We just had one of the week-long activities to commemorate the 2026 disaster.

“You know, Civil Defence as an organization, incidentally the last born of federal government agencies, security agencies for that matter, we are the first responders in terms of emergency. 

“You know, any form of emergency, man-made or natural occurrences.

“You can remember the Jibo plane crash and all of that. We were the first responders. As far as disaster management is concerned, Civil Defence is the first responder.

“And that’s exactly why the International Civil Defence Organization, we are majorly for responses of natural disasters. 

“And that’s why they came up to have a day to create awareness to the world that these are certain things you should do. 

“And that’s exactly why we printed a flyer today. Because if you look at the flyer, we mentioned certain things you need to do to prevent natural disasters. 

“Civil Defence Corps is an embodiment of the ICDO. Presently we have 60 member countries of ICDO.

“60 all over the world. The Civil Defence Corps is the 42th member of the International Civil Defence Organization. And we have a headquarters in Switzerland as ICDO.

Speaking on the collapse of a mining site in Ebonyi, he said: “You may not know what we’ve been doing behind the doors. You don’t begin to blow your trumpet.

“But silently we’ve been doing our work. Because there are some mining pits that need reclamation. 

“After you complete your work in a particular mining pit, you have to reclaim that site by filling it up so that it will not cause problems.

“Do you understand? And we’ve been advising. One thing is to advise.  Another thing is to obey your advice.

“And most times when you do certain things, the government might think you are trying to go against their policies. So while carrying out your duty, you still have to be careful. 

“But I tell you, we’ve been doing a whole lot concerning the occurrences of disasters, especially in the mining sector.

On enforcing the environmental law on the residence of the state, he said the Command will do its best to arrest or deal with defaulters? 

“Before now, we’ve arrested especially the artisanal miners. We’ve clamped down on so many of them because they are majorly people that don’t follow mining instructions. You know there are mining rules.

“And you have to follow mining rules so that you don’t have the collapse of mining sites. As you know now, these people are not trained. 

“When they feel that this is their land, they want to partake in the mineral resources being scooped from underground.

“So, they go ahead to do their mining without following rules. And we’ve severely warned against that. And we’ve even made some arrests.

“We will not rest in our oars to make sure that all these things are drastically eliminated” he stressed.

In a remark, DCC, Uchenna Nwaogu, HOU Disaster Management, reiterated the committed efforts of NSCDC Ebonyi State command to continue to educate the citizens of the state on possible ways to prevent all forms of natural disaster occurrences.