The Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS), Lagos Branch, has appealed to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) to help in retraining its volunteers.
The body said this was in order to equip them to respond effectively during disasters.
The Secretary of the Branch, Mr Olakunle Lasisi, made the appeal during the Emergency First Aid Training (EFAT) for 100 Red Cross volunteers on Wednesday in Lagos.
The two-day training was organised by the branch to keep the volunteers abreast of global trends in emergency response and also equip them with personal protective equipment for their safety.
Lasisi said the strength of the Red Cross went beyond responding to regular emergencies, but mainly in situations where people could not come out to assist for safety reasons.
“That’s when we have high number of fatalities and injuries,” he said.
Lasisi called on LASEMA to assist the branch by creating a budget that would help train and retrain its volunteers to be able to respond promptly and effectively during such emergencies.
According to him, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has a similar arrangement, by engaging the Red Cross to train its officials and donating an ambulance to the organisation’s headquarters.
“Sufficient budgeting and allocation can help us in this kind of training.
“This training is like a drop of water in an ocean because we’re training just 100 volunteers when we have over 5,000 that are ready to respond to emergencies,” he said.
The 100 volunteers, who were drawn from various divisions in the state, were given safety equipment such as helmets, boots and bibs with the Red Cross insignia. (NAN)
