Institutional Framework, Management And Coordination Of Disaster Situations In Nigeria: Theoretical Standpoint On National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue II, February 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Institutional Framework, Management And Coordination Of Disaster Situations In Nigeria: Theoritical Standpoint On National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Barinem Wisdom Girigiri PhD¹ and Porbari Monbari Badom, PhD²

¹Rivers State University, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Nkpolu Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt

²Department of Sociology,  Faculty of Social Sciences. University of Port Harcourt, 500272, Nigeria

Abstract
The accuracy in handling and conforming to established procedures and objectives set by organizations to achieving results in course of attending to disaster situations has become a cumbersome process considering the environmental circumstances and the nature of disaster which could be naturalistic and humanistic or anthropogenic in nature that confront organizations. This paper which utilized description of secondary literature is a positioned one that is anchored on the two theories in consideration of NEMA as a specialized agency of government designated and saddled with the mandates to coordinate, investigate, monitor and manage disasters within the environmental peculiarities of where disaster occurs. Collective Stress and Contingency Theories are the two theories used in the study while the Contingency theory is the considered most relevant in the explanation of disaster management; the paper argued that collective stress situations emerged as a direct response to adaptation to the crises bedeviling the environment been affected by the disaster and how the people being affected can adapt to new strategies to survive in such environment. The paper maintains that NEMA adopts certain social constructs to help manage disaster situations. Furthermore, the paper in its adoption of the contingency theory upholds the view that no one best approach is very effective and efficient for any situation; but rather, advocates combination of approaches to achieving results when organizations encounter difficult situation. It is for the management of the organization (now NEMA) to apply approaches to a given suitable situations considering the ecological circumstances, the time constraint, the technology needed and those available man-power in the organization and the resources available to the organization to handle the structural components of the situations.
Keywords: Institutional Framework, Management, Coordination, Disaster situations, Contingency Theory, Collective Stress.

INTRODUCTION

Managing and coordinating set objectives to achieve ends within organizations has been of great concern among sociologists and those in the field of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management among others. It is imperative to note that considering sweeping changes within the domain of organizational sphere of operations, for organizations to remain in operation, Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development OECD (2016) provides three critical frameworks that are needed to be adhered to, to understand how organizations can be effective. These include the following propositions: (1) Organizations must ensure that resources match the objectives; (2) employees share the vision of the organization in terms of the related activity to be implemented and (3) the activity has shared value for organizations and a section of the society in general. Girigiri, Anele & Badey (2019) opined that the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization in delivering on set targets is principally contingent on the maximum effort at utilizing the available resources maximally for organization’s successes and environmental gains.
In addition to the OECD critical framework for effective work organization, there is need to stress that the peculiar environment that organizations find themselves is another critical factor that influences how organizations operate and achieve effectiveness. Kolawale (2016) colloborating the latter argued that no matter the availability of both materials and human resources, organizations still need to consistently adjust to its environment for it to be effective and efficient in delivering goals. Meanwhile, two contending approaches exist on the issue of disaster management and coordination. One is the belief that contingencies emerge during disaster scenarios to make such organizations put to test the basic assumptions of the contingency approach in management and coordination given the fact that most disaster outcomes are not planned (Morris, 2013; Benanke, 2015 & Odulari, 2016). On the other hand, some scholars converge on the understanding that designated organizations handling disaster management and coordination during disaster period such as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Nigeria, the Global Red Cross Organization among others have institutional mandate to anticipate and therefore plan for disaster management before they even occur (Idris, 2012; Makinde, 2015 & Kolawale, 2016).

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