NEMA: Media must help in restoring trust, tackling fake news during emergencies

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has called for media support to fight fake news when disasters or emergencies occur.

Speaking during an awareness and capacity-building workshop on Saturday, in Lagos, Mustapha Ahmed, director-general of NEMA, said the partnership with the media would help to fight misinformation and disinformation.

The programme titled ‘NEMA’s Workshop for Media Practitioners on Disaster Reporting’ was put together in collaboration with Impact Pointe Consultancy Limited, Vista, Radio 8 and The Media Training Room.

Ahmed said the shared goal of the agency and the media is to facilitate effective information dissemination during emergencies, while he called on media practitioners to act as gate-keepers in this era of disinformation.

“We intend to foster collaboration and networking between media practitioners and NEMA. By working together, we can ensure that timely and accurate information reaches the public, creating much-needed awareness and enabling them to make informed decisions and take necessary precautions where applicable,” the NEMA DG said.

He further said the workshop was necessary to enable media practitioners to “report on disasters and NEMA as the apex disaster management agency in Nigeria.”

“The objective is to provide a clear understanding of NEMA’s remit, Nigeria’s triple response structure, and NEMA’s relationship with subnational actors,” he said

“We trust you to act as the bulwark against misinformation and fake news and the shenanigans of citizen journalists and fifth columnists.”

The workshop featured technical presentations, panel discussions and robust interactions. Onimode Bandele Abdullahi, NEMA’s director, special duties, in his technical presentation explored the history of the agency, its mandate and efforts in disaster management in Nigeria.

The panel discussion moderated by Dayo Alao focused on the theme: ‘Navigating Challenges in Disaster Reporting: Insights from Media Practitioners’. The panelists were Daniel Obot, NEMA’s director of disaster risk reduction; Ibrahim Farinloye, head, NEMA Lagos territorial office; Hamza Idris, managing editor, Daily Trust; and Dotun Oladipo, publisher, Eagle Online newspaper.

The second technical presentation, “Collaborative Approaches in Disaster Reporting: Strengthening Partnerships for Effective Communication”, was led by Chido Nwakanma, a communications management expert, while Toni Kan, a PR and development expert, facilitated the third technical presentation on the theme “Ethics in Disaster Reporting: Balancing Sensationalism and Responsible Journalism”.