Danjuma, Dangote in committee to rehabilitate North East, resettle IDPs
…As women in politics visit Buhari
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NIGERIA: FORMER Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, and Africa’s richest man and business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, are among those appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari into the committee on the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the north eastern part of the country.
The committee which is soon to be formally inaugurated by Buhari, according to a release by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, would help in the rehabilitation of infrastructure and resettle the IDPs in the North-East sub-region.
“The committee, to be led by a frontline statesman, Lt.-Gen Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) will also include Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, GCON,” Shehu quoted the President as saying at the State House, Abuja while responding to a goodwill message delivered to him by the Women In Politics Forum (WIPF), the first group to be received by Buhari in the new year.
“President Buhari announced that all forms of assistance and aid in this respect generated locally and from foreign countries as promised by the Group of Seven of Industrialized Countries, G7 will be channeled through the committee when it is inaugurated,” Shehu added.
“He said that he had compiled a list of damaged infrastructure, including schools and bridges and handed it to the leaders of the G7 and the United States, adding that ‘I didn’t ask for a Kobo (in cash). It is up to them to choose what they will undertake. Already, some of them have sent teams to verify our assertions,” he further explained.
President Buhari decried the impact of the Boko Haram violence on women and children declaring that they are its worst victims, the media spokesperson stressed.
“In the North-East, what I saw for myself and on those clips is a source of concern for people with conscience. They are mostly women, and children who are orphaned. Some of them don’t even know where they come from. This is the pathetic situation in which the country has found itself,” Shehu quoted Buhari, and added: “He said that the fight for the return of the Chibok girls is ongoing and ‘continues to be a most worrying issue’ to his government, emphasizing that the administration will do all within its powers in making the best efforts to secure their freedom.”
He also said: “The President acknowledged the case made by the WIPF for better representation of women in his government and assured that women would fare well in the composition of parastatals and their boards in the first quarter of this year.
“He also defended the records of the administration in response to criticism that it is slow, arguing that steps must be taken with caution to avoid mistakes.
“People say we are slow. We are trying to change structures put in place by our predecessors in office for 16 years. If we hurry it, we will make mistakes. That will be a disaster.”
According to Shehu, the President assured the women that the country had a budget proposal for year 2016 that would be good for employment and manufacturing.
The WIPF, made up of women leaders from 26 registered political parties led by Barrister Ebere Ifendu of the Labour Party, expressed its full support for the government’s war on corruption and insecurity.
The group urge the administration to enact laws that would promote gender equality and action towards the implementation of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act.
Among those present at the event were the Minister of State (Foreign Affairs), Khadija Abba Bukar Ibrahim; WIPF President, Barrister Ebere Ifendu; Vice President (South), Barrister Sharon Ikeazor; Patron, Iyom Josephine Anenih (ex-Minister of Women Affairs); Vice President (North), Hajiya Fatima Mohammed Baba; Mrs. Ezinne Agbiogwu; and Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Women Trust Fund, Mrs. Olufunke Baruwa.
- By Temitope Odupitan
