NEMA seeks collaboration with NAN to enhance disaster management
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The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has sought collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to enhance disaster management in Niger and the country at large.
Malam Hussaini Isah, the newly appointed Head, NEMA Minna Operations Office, said this during a familiarisation visit to NAN Minna Zonal office in Minna.
He said the visit was to seek more areas of collaboration and sustain existing ones.
“The purpose of the visit is to collaborate with NAN and other partners to move disaster management in Niger and the country to the next level.
Isah noted that NAN was an agency known for timely and accurate dissemination of information.
According to him, any agency that has a mandate of doing that is an agency that fosters unity in enlightening and engaging citizens.
He said disaster management had taken a new direction with complex threats that can be natural or human-induced.
“The management of disaster has also taken centre stage globally due to the increase in intensity and frequency of disasters, coupled with climate change and global warming,” he said.
Isah stated that NEMA was the coordinating agency for disaster management in Nigeria with mandate to formulate policies and programmes on disaster management, sensitise citizens on disaster prevention and control, and collect data from key stakeholders.
“Sensitisation is key, and it is through sensitisation that we can tell people about mitigation and preparedness, risk reduction, and global best practices,” he said.
Isah cited the 2024 flood that affected Maiduguri and Niger as an example of the importance of disaster management, adding that there was need to create more awareness, particularly at the grassroots where most disasters happen.
He said that NAN could help counter fake news, especially in disaster reporting and proposed that both agencies collaborate on training and public enlightenment programmes, using local languages to reach the grassroots.
Responding, Alhaji Mohammed Bababusu, Zonal Manager in charge of Niger, Kogi, and Nassarawa, that NAN was s a government media outfit with subscribers across all media outlets and internationally recognised agencies.
“Be rest assured, if you talk to NAN, you are talking to all,” he said.
He explained that NAN was created to ensure peaceful coexistence of Nigerians, which is why the agency avoids reporting news that creates confusion.
Bababusu assured NEMA of NAN’s willingness and interest to partner in ensuring that disaster management was controlled to the barest minimum in the state and the country at large.
