NEMA to lead Nigeria’s humanitarian transition as UN shifts coordination role

The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has reaffirmed its readiness to lead Nigeria’s transition to a nationally driven humanitarian response system as the United Nations shifts from direct operational coordination to a supporting role.

Director-General of NEMA, Zubaida Umar, gave the assurance on Tuesday at the opening of the Humanitarian Transition Workshop organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNOCHA, in Abuja.

She described the transition as a major step toward building a sustainable, nationally owned humanitarian system capable of responding effectively to disasters and emergencies across the country.

According to Umar, the transition aligns with NEMA’s statutory responsibility of coordinating disaster management and humanitarian interventions nationwide.

She said the agency would provide strategic leadership by strengthening coordination among stakeholders, improving disaster preparedness, promoting anticipatory action, enhancing data management and fostering partnerships at the federal, state and local levels.

The NEMA boss said the workshop would enable stakeholders to develop a joint action plan for strengthening federal and state institutions, improving coordination mechanisms and ensuring humanitarian interventions remain inclusive, accountable and responsive to the needs of vulnerable populations.

She reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to working closely with State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs), United Nations agencies, development partners and other stakeholders to build a resilient and locally owned humanitarian response system.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, said the changing global humanitarian landscape had made the transition imperative.

He urged state and local governments, the private sector, development partners and Nigerians in the diaspora to support the process by mobilising resources to assist vulnerable communities.

Also speaking, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Dr Mohamed Malik Fall, clarified that the humanitarian transition did not signify the UN’s withdrawal from Nigeria.

Rather, he said, it represented a strategic shift aimed at enabling Nigerian institutions to assume greater responsibility for humanitarian interventions while the UN continues to provide technical expertise, capacity building and other forms of institutional support.

The workshop brought together representatives of federal and state governments, UN agencies, development partners and civil society organisations to develop strategies for strengthening nationally led humanitarian action and ensuring a smooth transition to a sustainable humanitarian response system in Nigeria.