The director general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs. Zubaida Umar, Tuesday, reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to strengthening collaboration with the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in disaster risk management, research, capacity building and institutional resilience.
A statement signed by head, NEMA press unit, Manzo Ezekiel said Mrs. Umar gave the assurance while receiving the vice-chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Prof. Adamu Ahmed, who led the university’s management team on a courtesy visit to the NEMA headquarters in Abuja.
Welcoming the delegation, the director general assured the university of NEMA’s commitment to scaling up the existing partnership between the two organisations.
She said that partnerships with academic institutions are critical to strengthening evidence-based disaster management, advancing research and innovation and building national resilience.
Mrs. Zubaida Umar said that NEMA has continued to reposition disaster management in Nigeria by placing greater emphasis on disaster risk reduction, early warning dissemination, public awareness, preparedness and resilience-building, rather than relying solely on emergency response.
She added that the agency has also sustained nationwide sensitisation campaigns, strengthened collaboration with State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs), and promoted the establishment and effective functioning of Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) to enhance community-based disaster risk management.
She stated that disaster management begins at the community level and underscored the importance of collaboration with tertiary institutions in promoting disaster risk education, climate resilience, environmental sustainability, emergency preparedness, research and institutional capacity development.
Earlier, the vice-chancellor, Prof. Adamu Ahmed, commended the director general, for her exemplary leadership and the remarkable progress recorded by NEMA in disaster management and humanitarian coordination.