By Ebi Kesiena
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has inaugurated the Committee on the implementation and institutionalisation of its Strategic Roadmap and Coordinating framework.
The Committee with members drawn from departments and Agencies under the Ministry was inaugurated by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Dr Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, mni, NPOM, in Abuja, recently.
According to the Permanent Secretary the Roadmap aptly themed “Mapping out a life of dignity for all ” was conceived from the mandate given to the Ministry on its establishment in August, 2019 which is “To develop humanitarian policies, coordinate National and International humanitarian interventions, ensure strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness and response and manage the formulation and implementation of fair focused social inclusion and protection programmes in Nigeria”.
He said in order to achieve this Mandate, the Ministry developed it’s Strategic Roadmap outlining its initiatives, action plans and strategies. This he said is contained in its seven (7) strategic pillars enumerated as follows: strengthening policies and Institutional Frameworks, Building Evidence-Based systems for Transparency and Accessibility, Enhanced Programme Delivery through Effective Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism, Optimizing Funding and Resourcing Opportunities, Strategic Partnership, Collaborations and Disability Inclusion, Implementation of a robust Humanitarian Coordination system for improved strategic Communication & Governance and Mainstreaming of sustainable Development Goals and Integration of Social Initiatives and Investment Programmes.
Dr. Sani-Gwarzo explained that the Ministry in actualising the seven pillars of the Roadmap identified the need for an effective coordination and synergy of actions. For this reason he said a standardized Coordination Frameworks was developed to enable the Ministry to “Lead an Inclusive Innovative Future-Thinking Ecosystem (L.I.F.E), this Framework focuses on collaboration between the Ministry, its Agencies and programmes so as to have a central task of aligning all Independent Mandates to execute the overall Ministry’s vision which is “To create sustainable and inclusive systems that promote human dignity in Nigeria.
He said that the Roadmap was launched on 14th February, 2022 and the constitution of a Committee and Institutionalizing the strategic Roadmap and Coordination and Framework is long overdue because the document will help serve as a supportive blueprint for the Ministry and Agencies under its supervision in conceptualizing and driving all its activities, initiatives and programmes in line with the objectives of the National Development plan 2021-2025 of the Federal Government.
He urged all departments and Agencies under the Ministry to take the task of implementing the contents of the document seriously. He urged the members of the committee to move into action immediately, harmonies the work and put up a time line of action.
He also stated that the Ministry will be organising the first Nigeria International Humanitarian Summit on the 9th of February 2023 and encouraged all stakeholders to key into the event.
Also, in his opening remarks, Director Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr.Peter Nwakpa, said the Roadmap is a five year strategic plan of action built on seven pillars and developed to provide policy direction for the Ministry and its Agencies with the aim of achieving the Mandate, vision and mission of the Ministry in Coordinating the activities of the humanitarian sector.
He said the Roadmap is such an important document in the life of the Ministry that the Committee should give it all the desired attention, urging the the Committee to work seriously to achieve the aim and also do their best in achieving their target.
In an overview on the Strategic Roadmap by the Deputy Director (PRS), Hajara Ahmed, she said the Roadmap was born out of the National Development Plan which was launched in December 2021, by His Excellency Mr. President, and the roadmap is a follow up of that National Development Plan and it has specific strategic pillars.
She said “some may be aware and some may be seeing the document for the first time, the whole idea is for everyone to key in. As we are aware, the vision of the Ministry is to create sustainable and inclusive social systems that promote human dignity for all, that is why we’re all here to be able to achieve this vision.
The Implementation plan could be done according to the seven pillars so the coordination of this Implementation exercise will be done quarterly. I urge the members for full compliance because this is what is going to drive all the activities of the Ministry going forward”.
The Director General, National Senior Citizens Centre, Mrs. Emem Omokaro, PHD, in her contribution said she was privileged to have the document during the Launch and have studied it. she said it came at the appropriate time because they had just been inaugurated as an Agency and being newly inaugurated, the strategic Roadmap was very important to them.
She said they could not have started without using the document to develop the Agency’s specific strategic Roadmap that the document guided the Agency in developing it’s Roadmap.
In attendance were Directors of the Ministry, National Coordinator NSIP and Heads of Agencies of the Ministry.
