The Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (YOSEMA), in partnership with Plan International Nigeria, has commenced a three-day capacity building workshop aimed at strengthening emergency preparedness and embedding disaster risk reduction (DRR) into the state’s fiscal planning.

The workshop, which opened Friday August 14, 2026 in Damaturu, the Yobe Ssate capital, has brought together a diverse coalition of critical stakeholders including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), social media influencers, officials from the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and Planning, and legislative staff from the Yobe state House of Assembly.

The cross sectoral gathering signals a growing recognition that disaster resilience is not solely a humanitarian concern but a governance and budgetary imperative.

Declaring the session open, Dr. Muhammed Ibrahim Jalo, Director of Search and Rescue Operations at YOSEMA, said disaster management efforts in the region have long been reactive rather than proactive, with meager resources allocated to prevention, preparedness, and resilience-building interventions that could drastically reduce disaster losses and humanitarian suffering.

“This workshop is a pivotal effort to review and refine our advocacy strategies for financing disaster risk management in Yobe state.

“We cannot continue to respond to emergencies after they occur while neglecting the investments that would prevent them in the first place,” Dr Jalo

In his remarks, Mr. Mathew Aliyu, a program officer with Plan International Nigeria under the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance Project, explained that the workshop is part of a broader, long-term strategy to secure more resources and prioritize budgeting for disaster reduction.

He revealed that the project is a 12-year initiative spread across four phases, covering Adamawa and Yobe states, with interventions already underway in six Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 12 communities.

“Sustainable disaster resilience cannot depend solely on external support. We are advocating for increased government commitment to allocate and effectively implement budget lines for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR),” said Aliyu.

Presentations delivered during the training focused specifically on “The Role of Legislatures and CSOs in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Financing in Yobe State”, among others.

The sessions highlighted the vital oversight functions of the legislature and the advocacy power of civil society in ensuring that disaster resilience becomes a permanent fixture in the state’s fiscal planning.