Buhari’s policies, good for common Nigerians ― Sen Akume

Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, on Thursday in Lagos appraised policies of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, saying they are for the good of common Nigerians, as most farmers in the country were currently smiling to the banks as a result of border closure and more enrolment in schools due to free feeding programme for school pupils.

Akume said this at a press conference held after reading the communique for Minister, Stakeholders Retreat to develop Strategic Plan 2019-2023 for Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, with part of the communique calling on the government to realign its climate change policy to stimulate employment generation and wealth creation.

“President Buhari’s policies are for the good of common Nigerians. Border closure policy is to support Nigerian farmers. The farmers, especially the rice farmers are smiling to the bank. The policy will transform their lives. In Benue state, so many women have taken over rice milling and selling and they all doing very well.

“The school feeding programme is also working well, so many pupils are enrolling and going to school because of that,” he said, adding that it was good for the country to have an enlightened citizen.

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The minister said the retreat which was attended by more than 200 participants, including all relevant stakeholders dealt with issues aimed at providing a compass for the implementation of the mandate and achieving Mr President June 12 promise of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years.

Reading the communique, the minister noted that it had been discovered that there was no synergy and cooperation in policy formulation and program implementation amongst the three tiers of government, but quickly said it was now imperative that a review and harmonisation policies on inter-governmental cooperation and collaboration be implemented with a set timeline.

The communique further urged the government to realign its climate change policy to stimulate employment generation and wealth creation.

Besides, the retreat called on the government to take appropriate steps to key into the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with a view to gaining carbon credit for revenue generation.

This was just as it counselled that: “All special projects of the Federal Government should be domiciled with the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs as a special purpose Vehicle-SPV for the delivery of efficient service to the people.”

Akume noted that the stakeholders further resolved that: “An E-Monitoring and Evaluation system should be put in place to ensure value for money.

‘’The government should ensure full implementation of the National Gender Policy in order to tackle socio-economic inequalities and feminisation of poverty for sustainable development, and there is a need for an inter-ministerial forum to serve as a platform for relevant stakeholders’ engagement with the organised private sector and international organisations and development partners.”