The Director General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) Dasuki I. Arabi, has commended the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development for what he described as its roles in tackling humanitarian and social challenges in the country.
He made the commendation on Thursday, when he paid a courtesy visit to the Permanent Secretary of the ministry.
Arabi said the ministry has fared well in its expectation, through the provision of proactive strategies, disaster mitigations and implementation of social inclusive programmes in the country.
According to the DG, “The attendant consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters has also asserted pressure on Humanitarian challenges and the need for the ministry to respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic.
“Concerned with the need to ensure availability of social interventions programmes in line with the presidential directive of lifting 100milllion Nigerians out of poverty, the Bureau conducted a workshop in 2020 to identify the service delivery challenges around Micro-Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and other social intervention programmes.
“Also, concerns of the vulnerability of persons displaced from the insurgent regions in the North-East poses another humanitarian challenge on their need to rehabilitate them remains paramount,” he added.
The DG however said the government alone cannot handle the humanitarian challenges, adding that there is the need to interface with the private sector including bi-lateral and multilateral development partners to provide well-planned policies and programmes.
He then promised that the bureau will continue to support the ministry to deliver on its mandate and provide effective service delivery to citizens.
Responding, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary said the six MDAs under them alongside the mandate of the ministry are presently impacting lives across the country.
He explained that, “The flagship programme of the Ministry is the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) which is impacting positively in over 500 Local Governments in all the States of the federation. We are intervening and impacting on the elderly, livelihood skills for the unemployed youth and the home-grown school feeding programme for school children.
“All these programmes are innovation under the Social Investment programme under this Administration. And they are being implemented under the various clusters as follows; Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) and N - Power,” he explained.
On the Main Reform in terms of the entire Civil Service, the Ministry according to the Permanent Secretary is also Implementing the reform imitative from the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) called the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025
“The Reform Department has commenced the processes of sensitizing the Ministry's staff. So far two sensitizations have been carried out and the process will continue to ensure full understanding of the programme and implementing it to the full,” he concluded.
