The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, on Tuesday in Maiduguri solicited the support of the Nigerian media in dealing with the humanitarian crisis faced by Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the North east.

NEMA’s director general, Sani Sidi, made the appeal in a message to participants at a three-day workshop for journalists and information officers of the agency in the North east, which he declared opened in Maiduguri.

Sidi said that the media has a critical role to play in the rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced persons in the region, adding that the workshop was planned to enhance the skills and understanding of reporters and information officers of the agency of the humanitarian disaster posed by the Boko Haram insurgency

 Represented by the North east zone coordinator of the agency, Mohammed Kanar the NEMA boss said that the workshop “is expected to help enhance media reporting skills during emergencies using enhanced media relation strategy.”

“It is in this light; NEMA is organizing this workshop to ensure that information managers are abreast with h activities of the agency especially in rehabilitation of victims of Boko Haram and planned reconstruction of destroyed communities so that they can effectively keep the public better informed,” he said.

Sidi appealed to participants to utilize the skills learnt during the programme in their reportage, adding that the support and cooperation all stakeholders, including the media, is needed to deal with the humanitarian crisis brought about by the insurgency in the North east.

He commended efforts of stakeholders whose support he said had helped to provide succour to millions of displaced persons in the region