North-east: CSO boosts capacity of media to report climate change 

To mitigate the effects of climate change in the North-east region, Plan International Nigeria with funding from the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance (ZCRA), has organised a five- day capacity building event for print, online and electronic media.

The programme which involves the National orientation Agency (NOA), CSOs, among other relevant stakeholders in Yobe and Adamawa states,  took place in Kano state.

The programme is coming as a result of communities that experience flood, caused by River Komadugu in Yobe and River Benue in Adamawa between the months of July and October.

The flood disrupts economic activities in these communities by causing the collapse of roads and bridges,which hinders access to markets. 

As a result, market dependent communities faced hunger due to limited opportunities to buy and sell food. According to the IOM DTM, between June 1 and August 31, 2022, flooding affected 15,042 individuals in Yobe and 5,979 individuals in Adamawa state.”

A climate resilience and advocacy officer said, “ZCRA project might be scaled up to a period of 12 years designed to enhance Community resilience against climate -induced disasters, particularly flooding.

 He said: “The project will be implemented in phases and it  begins with  12 communities across 6 local government areas of Yobe and Adamawa states with 3 local government areas in each state.

He added that, “The project aims to strengthen climate information dissemination to ensure timely and effective flood preparedness, supporting flooding risk assessments and capacity-building programs to empower communities with adaptive strategies and sustainable innovative approaches.”

Earlier, the Communications Advisor, Plan International Nigeria, Mr Yunus Abdulhamid highlighted some of the  thematic areas that the organisation focuses on to include; sexual and reproductive health, right livelihood, empowerment and entrepreneurship protection, basic education and Youths development among others.

The ZCRA project is expecting government inter-sectoral commitment and policies to flood disaster management at all levels is enhanced and sustained, reduction in human and economic damages caused by floods and improved ability of communities to recover from the effects of floods among others.