Sadiya Farouq: Agenda-Setting
Sadiya Farouq: Agenda-Setting for Nigeria’s Humanitarian
Affairs Minister
By Yushau A. Shuaib
When President Muhammadu Buhari announced Sadiya Umar Farouq as
the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and
Social Development, only a few people could truly decipher the
gamut of huge responsibilities and critical roles of this
super-powerful Ministry.
The idea for the establishment of the Ministry was proposed by
the House of Representatives early this year, to take care of the
huge humanitarian needs of those displaced by insurgency in the
North-East.
Before her ministerial appointment, Ms. Sadiya Umar Farouq was
Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees,
Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI)) and had served
as a staff of the National Assembly Service Commission before
leaving to join politics in 2010.
An astute politician from Zamfara State and former National
Treasurer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sadiya attended
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where she obtained a Bachelor of
Science (Bsc.) degree in Business Administration (Actuarial
Science) and Master’s degrees in International Affairs and Business
Administration.
In his Independence Day speech on October 1, President Muhammadu
Buhari hinted that the new Minister would oversee the
administration’s Special Intervention Programmes.
Speaking on the Special Intervention Programme, which was
hitherto under the supervision of the office of the Vice President,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the President stated that, “Our ongoing
N500 billion Special Intervention Programme continues to target
vulnerable groups, through the home-grown School Feeding Programme,
Government Economic Empowerment Programme, N-Power, Job Creation
Programme, loans for traders and artisans, Conditional Cash
Transfers to the poorest families and social housing scheme.
“To institutionalise these impactful programmes, we created the
Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social
Development, which shall consolidate and build on our achievements
to date. To the beneficiaries of these programmes, I want to
reassure you that our commitment to social inclusion will only
increase.”
From this background, therefore, the Minister of Humanitarian
Affairs has a huge task on her shoulders. During her tenure at the
Refugees Commission, Sadiya played a prominent role in the passage
of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2018 (SB
335), which annulled the extant Act and re-enacted certain
provisions to protect the rights of refugees, migrants, and IDPs,
in line with international best practices.
The law empowers the Commission to act as the coordinating arm
for the effective administration and management of issues
pertaining to refugees, migrants and IDPs in Nigeria, while
expanding the scope of the Commission to include facilitating the
management and utilisation of funds from government and donor
agencies.
In one of her public engagements, she had then pointed out that
the extant law would address the issues of migration arising from
communal conflicts, insurgency, and insecurity, due to the absence
of a legal framework to prevent evolving challenges in this
regard.
With the establishment of the new ministry, it is expected that
the Minister will ensure better coordination of humanitarian
services, the protection of relief providers and safety of
emergency workers, whilst ensuring the judicious utilisation of
resources.
It is undeniable that disaster management and poverty
alleviation programmes in Nigeria are currently undertaken without
synergy, hence a proper institution-based coordination mechanism is
necessary to tackle humanitarian and emergency needs, with the
effectiveness required to bring enduring relief to those affected
by these situations.
The social development aspect of the mandate of the Ministry
would need to consider soft approaches, entailing programmes that
would address the roots of insurgency, kidnapping, armed banditry,
poverty and disease which have been attributed to various factors,
including the political, social and economic.
There is currently a document, the National Counter Terrorism
Strategy (NACTEST), which aims to forestall, secure, identify,
prepare and implement key objectives and indicators, to effectively
ensure the monitoring and evaluation of these soft approach
programmes.
The Strategy, developed by international partners, experienced
academics and select non-state actors, actually recommends useful
programmes for education, economic empowerment and gender issues in
vulnerable communities. With its implementation anchored on the
Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), the Strategy was
put together taking into account the root causes of terrorism and
other violent crimes in order to apply appropriate solutions to
them.
Using the template in its programmes, the Ministry can involve
the participation of the civil society, academics, the media, and
traditional, religious and community leaders, as it utilises
existing structures within and outside government to deliver
targeted activities that further the overall objective of stemming
the tide of radicalism and economic crimes.
The mandatory registration of local and international
humanitarian agencies should also be undertaken, against the
background of the alleged suspicious activities of some of them by
the Nigerian military. In fact, considering the sensitive nature of
Sadiya Umar Farouq’s office in relation to national security, the
Ministry should work with the security and intelligence services in
disaster prevention and response operations, as well as
coordinating the activities of home-based NGOs interested in
humanitarian and social development endeavours.
For sure, some of agencies expected to report to the Ministry
would likely include the organisation she previously led, the
National Commission for Refugees, alongside the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA), the North-East Development Commission
(NEDC), the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA), Federal
Fire Service and, possibly, the Presidential Amnesty Programme.
On the economic front, especially in terms of poverty
alleviation programmes, the Ministry should supervise or, in the
alternative, work closely with the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust
Fund (NSITF), the Ecological Fund Office, National Social
Investment Programme (NSIP), School Feeding Programme, TraderMoni
and N-Power, which are part of the Government Enterprise and
Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
The activities of the listed agencies should be streamlined for
proper coordination and to avoid the duplication of
responsibilities. Proper documentation is equally essential for the
humanitarian service providers, interventionist agencies, and
Non-Governmental Organisations, including the putting together of
an accurate database of the IDPs.
The Ministry requires adequate and competent manpower, including
financial and logistics resources for disaster management and
poverty alleviation. This will ensure proper supervision and
implementation of the various programmes by the existing
agencies.
Yushau A. Shuaib
Author “An Encounter with the Spymaster”
yashuaib@yahoo.com