The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ajuri Ngelale, made this known in a statement.

He said the appointments were to facilitate the needed relief to Nigerians and ensure the effectiveness of humanitarian and social development programmes.

According to him, the president expected the new heads of the agencies and programmes to discharge the functions of their offices with utmost integrity and diligence so as to ensure that Nigerians, especially vulnerable groups, wwere the exclusive and direct beneficiaries of his administration’s reconfigured welfare programmes.

Those appointed are:

(1) Dr. Badamasi Lawal — Chief Executive Officer, National Social Investment Programme Agency, NSIPA. He holds a doctorate degree in education, and he previously served as a commissioner in Katsina State.

(2) Ms. Funmilola Olotu — Programme Manager, National Social Safety-Net Coordinating Office. She holds a master’s degree in business administration, and she is the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Lagos State on state lotteries.

(3) Ms. Aishat Alubankudi — Programme Manager, Grant for Vulnerable Groups. She holds a bachelor’s degree in community development. She has experience as a risk assessor and financial manager.

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(4) Princess Aderemi Adebowale — Programme Manager, Home Grown School Feeding. She holds a doctorate degree. She is the Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Civic Engagement and previously served as a local government chairperson.

(5) Mr. Abdullahi Alhassan Imam — Programme Manager, National Cash Transfer Office. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and has served as chief accountant, Northern Dairies Ltd, and as a bank manager.

(6) Mr. Ayuba Gufwan — Executive Secretary, National Commission for People with Disabilities. He holds an LLB and is the executive director of the Beautiful Gate Handicapped People Centre, Jos.

(7) Ms. Lami Binta Adamu Bello — Director General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons. She holds a master’s degree in public administration and has served as the Secretary-General of ALGON, and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, as well as Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

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The action was said to have been taken in view of the minister’s continued refusal to appear at the ongoing budget defence for the 2022 fiscal year.

The chairman of the  committee Hon. Muktar Betara, who handled down the directive at the ongoing budget defence by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, of the federal government threatened that the committee would not hesitate to sanction the ministry severely should the minister fail to honour the parliament’s summon.

The committee was said to have repeatedly invited the minister for the budget defence exercise, but she did not honour the invitation and did not offer any genuine reason.

According to him, “Hadjia Sadiya Farouq, rather than appear before the committee, kept delegating the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Nura Alkali, to do this function.”

“Alkali had made himself available, but the committee was uncomfortable with the minister’s behaviours, making it to reject the Permanent Secretary’s appearance

“The committee is insisting that the minister, who superintends the spendings in the ministry should come forward to account and not the Permanent Secretary.”

The lawmaker who stated that the committee would never approve the Permanent Secretary to defend the budget under whatever guise insisted that the Humanitarian Affairs  minister, Hadjia Sadiya Farouq, must appear before the committee in person to defend her ministry’s budget.

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Mrs Nneka Anibeze, Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

She stated that the objective of the policy was to have a society where senior citizens were guaranteed security, independence, participation, comprehensive care, self-fulfilment and dignity.

“It covers intersecting spectrum of issues and opportunities for older women and men in urban and rural settings, older persons living with disabilities, older migrants and  internally displaced older persons.

“It also covers poor older persons and older persons that are full of vigour contributing to the progress of families, communities and the larger society,” she said.

Anibeze explained that Farouq in her presentation at the Federal Executive Council Meeting on Wednesday stated that the objective of seeking the approval of the council was to uphold the rights and dignity of seniors.

Farouq added that that could be achieved by providing an age-friendly environment for them to maximise their potentials for self-fulfilment.

This, she said, would cause a fundamental positive change in perception and attitude about ageing and an inclusive society.

“We seek approval for the Ageing and Older Persons policy to guarantee an improved quality of life for senior citizens in Nigeria.

“To also strengthen the traditional support systems for them, to provide the framework for the regulatory mechanism on ageing issues, to guarantee adequate and sustainable income, security and healthy ageing.

“In addition, to ensure that the fundamental human rights of older persons are upheld and protected and to develop a functional data management system for effective research, planning, monitoring and evaluation of ageing programming,” Farouq said.

The development of the policy document on Ageing for Older Persons in Nigeria began in 2018 under the then Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

Source: NAN

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Inaugurating the 18-member Presidential Steering Committee on Alternate School Programme, ASP, co-chaired by the Ministers of Humanitarian Affairs and Education, the president said it was unacceptable to see children abandoning formal school to engage in menial jobs and child labour in the markets, streets and workshops.

President Buhari said the National Plan to be deployed by the federal government, through the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry, would ensure a holistic and comprehensive inclusiveness of appropriate basic education for vulnerable children.

‘‘To commence this special education initiative, emphasis should be given to first provide a limited scope of subjects in Mathematics, English language, Basic Science and Social studies. Gradually, the initiative will be scaled up to ensure the acquisition of relevant technical skills in the process that can enable the beneficiaries to participate in gainful economic activities,’’ he said.

President Buhari noted that in view of ‘‘some United Nations agencies that report a disturbing level of out of school children estimated at 13 million,’’ the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry had identified the critical need to further address literacy inclusiveness, especially among these vulnerable children.

‘‘While we continue to sustain our efforts on providing formal and conventional education through the activities of the Universal Basic Education Commission under the Federal Ministry of Education, it is still a common sight to notice children abandoning formal school to become apprentices in shops, workshops and markets, whilst many others choose to loiter at markets, become cart pushers and hawkers.

‘‘These are not acceptable,’’ he said.

The president also used the occasion to reiterate the commitment of the Federal Government to deal with key challenges of absolute poverty and propel Nigeria and Nigerians to a better way of life and development.

Reviewing the administration’s programmes on poverty eradication, President Buhari expressed delight that many countries were already admiring and imitating Nigeria’s social investment programmes as an effective strategy in the fight against poverty.

‘‘In our first term, many programmes and projects based on firm policies were commenced with the fight against poverty being the main goal.

‘‘The National Social Investment Program, NSIP, that includes the conditional cash transfer, N-Power, National Home-Grown School feeding Programme and The Government Enterprise and Empowerment programmes are today gaining admiration and imitation by many countries as an effective strategy.

‘‘Based on the need to sustain these efforts, we have launched the policy of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2030 at the beginning of our second term in 2019 to further consolidate the gains of the NSIPs through effective coordination and institutionalisation.

‘‘This led to the creation of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development with the mandate to ensure full coordination of all poverty eradication efforts of Government for enhanced impact,’’ he said.

Other members of the Presidential Steering Committee on ASP are Chairman, Northern Governors’ Forum, Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Minister of State, Education, Senior Special Assistant to the President, Sustainable Development Goals, Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, Director General, National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and the  National President, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON.

Others are Representative, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO;  Representative, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF; Representative, Global Partnership for Education; Chair, Private Sector Advisory Group – SDGs; Chair, Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development; Chair, Senate Committee on Basic Education; Chair, House Committee on Basic Education, Hon. Dr. Shehu Balarabe Kakale, while the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development will serve as Secretary.

President Buhari listed the four Terms of Reference of the Committee as follows:

*Refine and focus the vision of the initiative

*Ensure engagement and effective uptake of the ASP initiative across the country

*Review and approve all work, implementation plan, expected deliverables, feedbacks and reports as proposed

*Undertake any other task that can enhance the effective delivery of the initiative by the Ministry.

The president implored all members of the committee to take the assignment with the utmost seriousness, saying ‘‘the future of our young people is at stake.’’

In her remarks, Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, said the success of the programme “will be a turning point in our nation’s development history as it will accelerate our drive towards sustainable development.”

She added: ‘‘It is important to note that this success extends far beyond attaining Quality Education, Goal 4 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. It also directly impacts SDG 1, No Poverty, as it will provide better future outcomes for our children.”

The minister also said the success would impact SDG Goals 2, 5, 8, 10, and 17.

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