The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other stakeholders, has converged in Abuja, Nigeria, to review and validate the National Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy (2025–2030) and Action Plan (2025–2028).
Director-General of NEMA, Zubaida Umar, described the Strategy and Plan as strategic, designed to strengthen and institutionalise resilience across critical sectors of the country.
Represented by the Director of Disaster Risk Reduction at the Agency, Dr Ishaya Chonoko, she said Nigeria, like many nations, continues to face increasing risks from natural hazards, pandemics, conflicts, environmental degradation, and the worsening impacts of climate change.
“These risks pose threats not only to lives and livelihoods, but also to sustainable national economic development, peace, and security.”
According to her, the Strategy and Plan are anchored on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, while aligning with Nigeria’s and other global commitments.
She noted that the Strategy provides a coordinated, inclusive, and forward-looking approach to reduce disaster risks, adapt to climate change, and safeguard Nigeria’s development gains.
“We must be inclusive and strategic in our inputs to ensure that this Strategy becomes a truly actionable tool that empowers institutions, protects communities, and ensures no one is left behind.”
The DG therefore emphasised that disaster risk reduction is a shared responsibility, requiring collaboration among government, communities, private sector actors, academia, civil society, and development partners.
“Together, we can transform Nigeria’s disaster management approach from one that is reactive to one that is proactive, preventive, and resilient. The National DRR Strategy (2025–2030) is our roadmap to achieve this transformation.”
Mrs Umar added that the validation workshop would offer a unique platform to collectively interrogate, refine, and affirm the roadmap for advancing DRR in Nigeria over the next five years.
For its part, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said the Strategy would guide efforts to reduce disaster risks, protect lives and livelihoods, and ensure no community is left behind.
The UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, Ms Elsie Attafuah, said that with Nigeria’s population projected to exceed 250 million within five years, the scale and severity of risks would grow unless decisive and collective actions were taken.
Represented by the National Coordinator of the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme, Ibironke Olubamise, she said the Strategy was the result of extensive consultations across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, and therefore reflected the voices and priorities of government institutions, development partners, local communities, including women’s groups and youth, and the private sector.
“The urgency is clear. Over the past decade, Nigeria has experienced a sharp increase in disasters, more frequent, more intense, and more devastating than the last. From floods and droughts to epidemics and infrastructure failures, the scale and complexity of risks continue to grow.
“In 2022, Nigeria witnessed one of its worst flood disasters, affecting over 4.4 million people, displacing more than 2.4 million, and claiming over 600 lives. Homes were washed away, farmlands submerged, and critical infrastructure crippled.
“Just two years later, floods again swept through 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory, affecting over 1.3 million people, displacing communities, and claiming more than 320 lives. More than 1.4 million hectares of farmland were destroyed, threatening food security, deepening poverty across vulnerable households, and placing immense pressure on already overstretched national resources.”
These, she noted, were not just numbers but a reflection of families torn apart, children forced out of school, and livelihoods lost.
According to her, the UNDP, through its GEF Small Grants Programme, has supported over 220 community environmental initiatives in more than 240 communities across 30 states in Nigeria.
“We have seen how floods have brought untold hardship to communities, which are the first victims of most of these disasters, if not all. These hardships also exacerbate insecurity, conflicts, and criminality, among other known effects. Yet, communities are powerless to provide solutions and remain highly vulnerable.”
“Recent assessments from the National Disaster Loss and Damage Database, being developed through UNDP’s Sahel Resilience Project under NEMA’s leadership, have documented over 45,000 disaster incidents nationwide, covering 23 priority hazards. This data will inform evidence-based planning and targeted resilience building.”
She reaffirmed that the collective effort had ensured that the Strategy is nationally owned, regionally aligned, and globally informed.
“This Strategy is rooted in Nigeria’s national priorities and aligned with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the African Union Programme of Action, the ECOWAS DRR Gender Strategy and Action Plan, and the Regional Resilience Strategy for West Africa.”
Ms Attafuah therefore noted that the workshop marked a pivotal milestone, serving as the catalyst for the implementation of Nigeria’s National Strategy for DRR.
Once validated, the Strategy will drive measurable actions at all levels, enable the integration of multi-hazard risk assessments into planning, strengthen impact-based early warning systems, improve institutional coordination, build community capacity, and embed inclusivity, particularly for vulnerable groups.
The Strategy, under NEMA’s leadership and in collaboration with the AUC, ECOWAS, UNDP, UN Agencies, and IFRC, was refined through rigorous technical reviews and expert dialogue.