…Rewards essay competition winners

THE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has announced and rewarded the winners of its 2026 National Essay Competition, reaffirming its commitment to deepening disaster awareness, emergency preparedness, and resilience among young Nigerians.

Director General of NEMA, Zubaida Umar noted the exceptional level of interest the competition generated nationwide.

She made this known at a ceremony held at the agency’s headquarters yesterday in Abuja.

Top winners across three distinct categories,; Senior Secondary School, Tertiary Institution, and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), receive cash prizes of N500,000, N300,000, and N200,000 for the first, second, and third places, respectively.

Appreciating the overwhelming volume of entries which necessitated a rigorous and extended assessment period to ensure fairness, transparency, and merit Umar said the agency will harness the ideas.

Appreciating the participants, the DG said that “Their essays demonstrated encouraging awareness of Disaster Risk Reduction, climate change, emergency preparedness, community responsibility and the opportunities presented by technology in disaster management.”

Umar emphasised that emergency management must evolve into a proactive culture rather than a reactive measure.

“Emergency management must increasingly become a culture rather than an activity undertaken only when disaster strikes.

Through these young voices, we see encouraging evidence that a new generation of disaster-conscious Nigerians is emerging,” the NEMA boss added.

Represented by the Director Audit, Aliyu Waziri, she clarified that while Abuja-based awardees received their prizes at the headquarters, other recognised finalists across the federation would receive their certificates and prizes through NEMA’s zonal directors nearest to their locations.

In the Senior Secondary School category, which focused on the topic ‘My Role in Disaster Risk Reduction,’ Orire Fareedah Omolola of Murphy-Tonia Schools, Lagos, clinched the first prize.

Onminye Olive of Faith Academy, Goshen, and Isah Zainab Ise of Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, secured the second and third positions.

For the Tertiary Institution category, themed ‘Climate Change and Disaster Management in Nigeria,’ Adelanwa Emmanuel Oluwatosin from the University of Ibadan emerged as the overall winner.

He was closely followed by Memunat Olawore Omobolanle of the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus, and Aminu Ibrahim Bello from Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina.

In the NYSC Emergency Management Vanguards category, which explored ‘Technology for Disaster Response: Opportunities and Challenges,’ Dabagal Marylyn Mialmoen won the top prize, while Abiola Olamide Zion and Stanley Sunday Iserhienrhien took the first and second runner-up spots.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Competition Consultant, Hakeem Bello, lauded the initiative’s successful execution, stressing that the carefully chosen topics gave practical expression to the central theme of national resilience.

He noted that while secondary school students highlighted early preparedness, the tertiary participants brought essential research and policy thinking to the climate change discourse, and the corps members underscored the growing importance of technological innovation in saving lives.

“The ultimate value of this competition is not merely in identifying winners, but in building a generation that understands that disaster management begins before disaster strikes with awareness, prevention, preparedness and shared responsibility,” he adds.