The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has sought the partnership of the media on the reportage of disaster and emergency occurrences in the country.

The director-general of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, stated this at a workshop for media practitioners on Saturday in Lagos.

The workshop was titled: “Disaster Resilience in Media: Sensitisation Workshop on Promoting Ethical and Ethical Reporting for Media Practitioners.”

Mr Ahmed said NEMA intended to use the workshop to foster collaboration and networking with the media.

He said the goal of NEMA was to facilitate effective information dissemination during emergencies.

“By working together, we can ensure that timely and accurate information reaches the public, creating much-needed awareness and enabling them to make informed decisions and take necessary precautions where applicable,” Mr Ahmed said.

He said the objective of the workshop was to provide a clear understanding of NEMA’s operations, Nigeria’s triple response structure and its relationship with sub-national actors.

Mr Ahmed added that the workshop would provide an opportunity for NEMA to interact with media practitioners, share learning, insights and equip media practitioners with knowledge needed in their reportage.

According to him, it will enable media practitioners to mediate misinformation, disinformation and fake news while building resilience in the sector.

Mr Ahmed, however, enjoined media practitioners to act as gatekeepers in this era of disinformation.

“We trust you to act as the bulwark against misinformation and fake news and the shenanigans of citizen journalists and fifth columnists,” Mr Ahmed said.

Contributing, NEMA’s director, special duties, Onimode Abdullahi, in his technical presentation, explored the history of NEMA, the agency’s mandate and its efforts on disaster management.

The first panel discussion focused on “navigating challenges in disaster reporting, insights from media practitioners.

The second technical presentation had the topic “collaborative approaches in disaster reporting, strengthening partnerships for effective communication and was led by communications management expert, Chido Nwakanma.

Public relations and development expert, Toni Kan, facilitated the third technical presentation with the theme: “Ethics in disaster reporting: balancing sensationalism and responsible journalism.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has asked governors to use the ecological funds they receive from the federal government to tackle flooding in their states.

Mustapha Ahmed, Director-General, NEMA, said this while briefing journalists after meeting with the Nigeria Governors Forum, on Tuesday in Abuja.

“Each state governments do receive ecological funds, we expect that from whatever they receive, they put aside something to handle disasters in their states, we need to start from somewhere,” Mr Ahmed said.

Speaking further, he said;

“We have written twice individually to the states and we decided to come and meet them so that we can agree to work and move on collectively.

“Disaster management is not a one-sided thing, whereby it is only NEMA that will be creating awareness, we expect them to educate and sensitize their people on impending floods.

“We have sent them the vulnerable risk mapping of areas that will be hit by flood disasters, we expect them to sensitize their people to move to high grounds and move from flood prone areas.”

The NEMA DG said it was important to brief the governors on the need to partner with the agency to reduce the risk associated with disasters in their respective states.

According to him, it is necessary for the state governors to see the need to partner and heed all early warning signs given by the agency.

“Disasters as we all know is local, it is important that they have community volunteers, local emergency management committees and state emergency management agencies.

“So that as they come from bottom-up, we will approach it from top-bottom and meet in middle because with partnership, what we lost last year will be reduced to the barest minimum,” he said.

On the outcome of the meeting, he said the governors responded positively and he was optimistic they will provide support.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Minna Operation Office, has alerted Kwara residents of an impending flood this year.

The agency advised village and district heads as well as religious leaders, especially those in community levels, to begin the preparations in order to mitigate the effect of the flood.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Head of NEMA Operation in Minna, Zainab Suleiman-Sa’idu, in Ilorin on Monday.

She said that the alert became necessary following the Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) released by the Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) and 2023 seasonal climate prediction by the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NiMET).

Mrs Suleiman-Sa’idu added that the two reports are products of scientific researches that revealed that the country would suffer the possibility of flood in three categories, including high, moderate and low flood risks.

She said further that the report also identified Kwara as among the high flood risk states.

She therefore advised the community leaders to urgently lead the people of their various communities in identifying drainages/culverts that are blocked to be cleared.

The agency also urged the community leaders to sensitise people who have built on flood plains and those living along river banks to relocate to safer and higher places.

According to the 2023 AFO, flood is expected to occur in the state from the months of August, September and October.

“It is very clear that 2023 flood threatens not only the rural dwellers who resides along river bank, because urban flood is also very highly expected in metropolitan towns in Kwara state.

“Prevention is not only better but also cheaper, the agency strongly believes that when these warnings are heeded, the lives and properties of people will be saved,” she added.