National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) have agreed to continue working together towards tracking progress, challenges and opportunities in disaster risk management in Nigeria based on the Sendal Framework Monitor (SFM), 2015-2030.
Director-General, NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, disclosed this at a technical workshop on UNDRR monitoring and reporting of the Sendal Framework, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), yesterday, in Abuja.
He said Nigeria, as part of the global community, faces unprecedented challenges of nature and human-induced disasters made worse by climate change and extreme weather, which calls for effective management.
“Monitoring and reporting of disaster events remains a pillar in the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which is data-driven. It enables the assessment of progress, identification of gaps and impact analysis of our actions to enable a recalibration of our strategies to address evolving disaster challenges.
“The Sendal Framework, adopted in 2015, represents a landmark international agreement to chart the course for global disaster risk reduction efforts. Within the context of this workshop, four targets of Sendai Framework on substantial reduction will be given priority on the monitoring and reporting dashboard.”
“NEMA’s stakeholder workshop in September 2022 revived the national disaster data platform, and another workshop was organised by NEMA in collaboration with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and UNDP in November 2022. The workshop agreed on the need for an integrated disaster database and risk information management system in Nigeria to strengthen existing database and capacities across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs),” the DG said.
UNDP representative, Olivier Abayisengha, pointed that the Sendal Framework is aimed at enable countries integrates disaster risk reduction in national development policies.
He said: “I am here to reiterate UNDP’s commitment to keep supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria in taking forward its agenda of disaster risk reduction, but also to particularly help us to have these tools that will help us reintegrate risk disaster data and information into development planning process,”
Director-General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMET), Prof Charles Anosike, said as a partner on national disaster risk management NiMET will continue to utilise the Sendal Framework because of the significant disaster challenges facing Nigeria.
He said: “Disasters pose significant challenges to our nation and we must work together to enhance our coordination mechanism with disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.”
Also speaking, Director General of Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA), Clem Nze, noted that NIHSA, as a strategic partner with regards to disaster risk reduction, will continue to implement the disaster risk approach of the Sendal framework.
Nze said this would ensure the prevention of new risks, while identifying, assessing and reducing existing disaster risks as well as the promotion of sustainable development.
