This paper examined institutional and community-based flood risk management in Kogi State, Nigeria, with emphasis on institutional mechanisms, community participation, early-warning and risk communication systems, challenges, and strategies for strengthening institution–community collaboration. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and interviews from relevant residents and stakeholders in selected flood-prone communities of Kogi State. Descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage and mean, were used to analyse the data. The findings indicated that institutional mechanisms for flood-risk management exist in the state, particularly in flood monitoring, early-warning dissemination, emergency response and stakeholder coordination. Community participation was also found to be relatively high, especially through traditional leadership, local knowledge, environmental sanitation and post-flood recovery activities. However, weaknesses were identified in timely evacuation, flood-control infrastructure, community consultation and access to early-warning information. Inadequate funding, poor drainage infrastructure, insufficient early-warning coverage and weak coordination among relevant institutions were identified as major challenges. The study concludes that effective flood-risk management in Kogi State requires a shift from predominantly reactive disaster response toward proactive, anticipatory and community-centred approaches. It recommends increased funding for flood-risk reduction, strengthening of community-based early-warning systems, improvement of drainage and flood-control infrastructure, and institutionalisation of collaboration among government agencies, local governments, traditional institutions and vulnerable communities.