Reward for hard work is more work

BY NNEKA IKEM ANIBEZE

The  Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar-Farouq was recently adjudged the best Minister in twelve months of President Muhammadu Buhari second term by Transparency Watch. Instead of rolling out the red carpet to celebrate the achievement, she humbly told me that it calls for more work and not celebration.

In a society where a majority of citizens never fail to roll out the red carpet when opportunities to celebrate achievements present itself, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development belongs to a small club of Nigerians who see awards and achievements as incentive for more work rather than rolling out the red carpet.

Not a few staff of the Ministry had planned to celebrate her feat of being adjudged the best minister in the first twelve months of President Buhari’s second term by Transparency Watch last month. However, they were shocked when they realized Umar-Farouq had packed her bag and was on her way to Adamawa State and Gombe State on field trips, shortly after the announcement.

According to the interim report by Transparency Watch, Sadiya Farouq beat her counterparts in the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and Youths & Sports, Sunday Dare to the  second and third places respectively to be ranked best-performing minister in the first year of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term.

President of Transparency Watch, Barrister Maxwell Gowon disclosed that the ministers were graded on organizational strength; performance of agencies under their purview; impact on the lives of the people as well as transparency and accountability.

“In the assessment of organizational strength, of all the ministries reviewed, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development came out tops with a score of 9/10 due to its effective organization of the various interventions of government through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) the National N-Power Initiative, National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, and the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme” said Gowon.

More tasks to accomplish

While she is excited that an organization adjudged her best among equals, she described her one year in office eventful and stated that the award calls for more work and not celebration.

“The last twelve months have been eventful, interesting and challenging. We have learnt to navigate the peculiar geography of humanitarian interventions, disaster management and social interventions.

“I am grateful that individuals and organizations are watching our activities and to be honoured with awards is a good thing but we are not anywhere near the standard the President set for us. The vision of the President is to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years and our Ministry is playing a major role to make this a reality so we still have a long way to go. Reward for hard work is more work, not celebration at this stage,” Said Umar-Farouq.

From hitting the ground running on August 22, 2019 to flag off the voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees living in Cameroon, to the visit to Niger Republic about two weeks after her appointment to rub minds with her counterpart in the country and call for support for humanitarian affairs and disaster management, Umar-Farouq has come a long way in 12 months.

She described her experiences as exciting and challenging,

“Our ministry was new and we took over responsibilities that were hitherto domiciled in other MDAs and also providing the much-needed coordination of humanitarian interventions in Nigeria. It has been rewarding in the sense that when I visit the field and I see beneficiaries whose lives are being changed by the FG humanitarian interventions, it leaves me with a sense of fulfilment that we are doing something for humanity.”

She was honest to admit that her achievements would have been impossible without, “tremendous support and hands of friendship and partnership extended to the Ministry from different quarters for which we are grateful”.

Umar-Farouq also acknowledged the support and collaborations with organizations like Civil Security Cooperation Workshop (CISEC) which led to the Civil Security Coordination Framework and the National Humanitarian Coordination Forum that ensure the smooth conduct of all humanitarian activities in the country.

Others include the Humanitarian Policy Dialogue Forum, which was established to provide a forum in which the Ministry will interact with all CSOs and NGOs, which in turn provides room for interaction and a review of all government policies and humanitarian activities.

Umar-Farouq also thanked Governors of the 36 States and Minister of FCT as well as members of the National Assembly from whom the Ministry has been receiving tremendous support.

Umar-Farouq commended the media, describing them as “both partner and ally, an important stakeholder group and I want to take out time today to acknowledge the work you do.”

 Flying Where Angels Dread to Walk

The North Eastern part of Nigeria is a zone that has suffered more than any other part of the country, especially from the dreaded Boko Haram Sect.

Many dread visiting the region, but Umar-Farouq in the last 12 months has visited severally and initiated several committees, including the National Steering Committee for the restructured Multi-sectoral Crisis Recovery Project (MCRP) designated for Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States. MCRP is the foundation for the effective implementation of the Lake Chad Region Recovery and Development Project (PROLAC), sponsored by the World Bank at a whopping sum of $200 million dollars to support the recovery of the North East region.

Borno state Governor, Babagana Zulum never missed an opportunity to say thank you to  Umar-Farouq and her Ministry “We are indeed grateful to your ministry for what it is doing for the Boko Haram ravaged people of Borno State “, he said recently.

Last week, she was again in Maiduguri to deliver relief materials.

On arrival in Maiduguri she told newsmen that the airdrop relief operation is being carried out by her ministry in collaboration with the Nigerian Air Force, so as to reach many locals in various communities not accessible in Borno.

“There have been issue of inaccessibility in some areas where humanitarian workers cannot reach due to recent floods and insecurity,” she said, adding that vulnerable persons, especially the internally displaced people, require further support in terms of basic necessities, including food, from the federal government at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding their sufferings.

“We will identify such locations and know the number of people in those locations,” she said.

As she begins her second year, Umar-Farouq and her team are focused on surpassing their one year achievements.  “As we mark our anniversary, I want to say that it is a call to more service and a recommitment to our mandate. We have to find new ways to broaden the nexus that connects the management of disasters, provision of humanitarian assistance and the development of social safety nets which help us build resilience for the future”.

Nneka Ikem Anibeze is the SA media to the honourable minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development