The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs. Zubaida Umar, has reaffirmed commitment of the Agency to work with regional bodies such as the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) to address food and nutrition security challenges across Nigeria.
She gave the assurance on Wednesday, 16th July 2025, while receiving a delegation from CILSS at the Agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
The visit, led by Mr. William Maman Massaoud, Regional Food and Nutrition Expert of CILSS, was part of the organization’s regional mission to strengthen institutional cooperation and assess the progress of member states in early warning and food security mechanisms.
In her remarks, the Director General NEMA appreciated the role of CILSS and its partners in promoting food security and combating drought and desertification in the Sahel and West African region.
She acknowledged the development of the Cadre Harmonisé analysis tool in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), describing it as a valuable framework for assessing and classifying food and nutrition insecurity in the region.
She highlighted the importance of the Food Security Strategic Framework 2025- 2050, stressing the need for multi-sectoral coordination and sustainable investment to build resilience. “The launch of projects such as the Project for Strengthening and Innovating Food and Nutrition Security Information Systems (PRISISAN) underlines CILSS’s commitment to supporting countries like Nigeria in building integrated national information systems that enable timely decision-making,” she added.
Speaking on NEMA’s contributions, the Director General outlined the Agency’s technical support for food and nutrition security efforts, including the provision of hazard and vulnerability data, agricultural livelihood inputs, and emergency response planning. She said NEMA continues to play a vital role in the annual Cadre Harmonisé analysis and in coordinating emergency food security interventions during the lean and rainy seasons.
Responding, Mr. Massaoud commended Nigeria’s leadership in the regional food security space, praising NEMA for integrating early warning systems into operational planning since the adoption of the Cadre Harmonisé in 2015. He described Nigeria as a model for other Sahelian countries and emphasized the importance of validating systems, fostering knowledge exchange, and strengthening institutional links amid rising climate and humanitarian risks.
The engagement concluded with both parties reaffirming their commitment to deepen cooperation, particularly in the areas of institutional capacity building, post-disaster recovery interventions, food assistance, and agricultural livelihood support for affected communities.
16th July, 2025
