The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) have renewed their commitment to strengthening institutional collaboration aimed at improving Nigeria’s capacity for coordinated disaster response and public health management.
The renewed partnership seeks to integrate health-related interventions into disaster management frameworks, ensuring more effective prevention, preparedness, and humanitarian support for vulnerable populations across the country.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the NACA management team to NEMA Headquarters in Abuja, the Director General of NEMA, Mrs Zubaida Umar, emphasised the need for stronger synergy between both agencies. She noted that NEMA and NACA share similar coordination mandates that can be leveraged to enhance resilience, community engagement, and public awareness.
“We are both coordinating agencies—NACA focuses on HIV/AIDS, while NEMA manages disaster response. The connection between health crises and disaster management is clear, and this partnership will enable us to better serve vulnerable populations,” Mrs Umar stated.
She further highlighted the importance of prevention and data sharing, especially in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and humanitarian settings where health challenges are often more pronounced. “Investing in prevention saves lives and reduces the long-term cost of disaster response. It also aligns with this year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction theme, which emphasises prevention over reaction,” she added.
Mrs Umar expressed interest in incorporating HIV prevention materials into NEMA’s humanitarian kits and awareness campaigns, noting that such measures would improve access to preventive resources and reduce stigma within long-term IDP communities.
In her remarks, the Director General of NACA, Dr Temitope Ilori, commended NEMA for its leadership in national emergency management and stressed the need to integrate HIV/AIDS considerations into disaster response planning.
She revealed that an estimated two million Nigerians are currently living with HIV, emphasising that collaboration with NEMA would help ensure that vulnerable groups—especially those in disaster-prone and displacement areas—receive necessary support and preventive care.
Dr. Ilori reiterated NACA’s readiness to partner with NEMA in community outreach, preventive health education, and integration of health protection strategies within emergency response operations.
The meeting ended with an exchange of souvenirs and group photographs, marking the beginning of a renewed partnership between the two national coordinating bodies.
