By Abu Micheal
In disaster management, timing is everything. For Alhaji Muktar Atima, Executive Secretary of the Kogi State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, the job is not just to respond when crisis hits. It is to anticipate it, prepare for it, and ensure that no life is lost needlessly.
Since assuming office, the dynamic Atima has changed the narrative around emergency management in Kogi. Described by many as “a man caught out for his job,” he has brought passion, discipline, and relentless follow-through to an assignment that demands both speed and compassion.
The mandate of SEMA is clear: coordinate disaster preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. That means early warnings, evacuations, IDP camp management, relief distribution, and working with communities and sister agencies to reduce impact. In Kogi, a state at the confluence of the Niger and Benue and consistently listed among Nigeria’s most flood-prone states, the stakes are even higher.
Alhaji Atima has embraced that responsibility with both administrative discipline and a humanitarian outlook. The threats are familiar. Each year, communities along the Niger and Benue brace for floods, with over 258 communities across eight LGAs already mapped as vulnerable. Flash floods, storms, cholera outbreaks after displacement, fire incidents, building collapses, gas and tanker explosions, boat mishaps, communal clashes, erosion and poor waste management all test the system.
Under Atima, SEMA has shifted from reaction to proaction. Ahead of the 2024 and 2025 rainy seasons, the agency renovated 42 IDP camps across nine flood-prone LGAs and activated 18 during the 2024 floods. Speedboats and life jackets were procured for evacuation. Health personnel and fumigation teams were deployed to prevent disease outbreaks in camps. An Emergency Operations Centre was set up to improve coordination.
When floods submerged five communities in Ibaji, including Ota, Ofogbo and Itima, Atima led assessment teams to the riverine areas and urged immediate relocation as water levels rose. In Owara, Lokoja, where a flash flood destroyed homes and farmlands, he was on ground, profiling 660 affected persons and assuring them of government support.
Through collaboration with NEMA, the Ministry of Health, traditional rulers, youth groups and religious leaders, Kogi recorded zero casualties in the 2024 flood, a result the agency attributes to early sensitization and preparedness.
Asked what made the difference, Atima credits the leadership of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, describing him as a servant-leader who feels the pain of the people. Observers, however, point to Atima’s own energy and attention to detail. His interventions have been timely, strategic, and have set a new benchmark for emergency response in the state.
Atima treats disaster management not as routine, but as mission. With uncommon dedication, he has turned preparedness and relief into impact. He is passionate at heart, meticulous in execution, and bold in results.
As the 2026 flood season approaches, he is already engaging stakeholders, expanding sensitization, and advocating long-term solutions such as a dam at Shintaku in Lokoja to check river overflow. As of press time, the state has a functional IDP camp, and government has begun stocking warehouses and procuring health supplies ahead of any flood.
Recognizing the need for capacity, Atima has also prioritized training and retraining of SEMA staff in partnership with NEMA and other emergency management organizations, to equip them for the task ahead.
For him, the work is not about waiting for disaster. It is about staying ahead of it.
In Alhaji Muktar Atima, Kogi State has found a SEMA boss who has turned crisis management into a mission of humanity, restoring confidence that when trouble comes, government will be ready.
