By Razaq Adedeji Jimoh & Toyo C. Ngem
This story comes as a necessity from the acknowledgment of Civics Weekly that a lot is yet to be known about the person and service career of Dr. (Mrs.)Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, particularly within the circle of her local political constituency where many political jobbers have continued to underrate her personality and political rating values. Only a couple of days past, she was reported by this magazine to have made another history for Nigeria on the sideline of events at the United Nations’ General Assembly (UNGA77). It may not be unexpected that many might want to see that as, perhaps, needless hagiography. In matter of semantics, the story not only implied that she had been making history for her country in the line of her political assignments, it also indicated a part of the many successful stories yet unknown about the person of Dr. Mrs. Victoria Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, who became the Senior Special Assistant to the President on March 7, 2016 after serving her Lagos of origin as Deputy Governor of the state. Her duty portfolio at the presidency eventually became being the overseer of the United Nations global project of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as a latter transformation from the initial status of Millennium Development Goal (MDG). Ever since her assumption of office, it has been accolades of being a worthy ambassador and an exemplary statement of President Muhammodu Buhari’s ingenuity at putting a square peg in a square hole.
For instance, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Mss. Amina Muhammed, once had cause to describe her as an epitome of “integrity”. Muhammed had earlier served in that capacity OSSAP to oversee the UN project as MDG. Accordingly, she is the predecessor of Dr. Adefulire; but she did not appear to give the testimony on her successor’s integrity on account of performance in the current office. She referred to her time as Deputy Governor of Lagos State. “As Deputy Governor of Lagos State, she ensured that all funds allocated from the OSSAP-MDG to the state for projects were well accounted for”, Muhammed was reported to have said upon her visit to Adefulire as UN DGS about the month of July in 2021.
However, what may appear more impressive about the testimony of Mss Muhammed was the affirmation that Dr. Adefulire had taken the OSSAP “to a different level”, having introduced “innovations” that she had found desirable to guide Nigeria in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda of SDP. In part of the innovations referred was the “use of data” and mobilization of stakeholders from the private concerns for achievements of the implementations. Thus the UN Deputy General Secretary said: "You have done something that is very remarkable and I hope we can amplify this at the global level and that is to address the problem of data, because if you say so, so and so number of Nigerians are living below poverty line, who are they? Where are they and how can we reach them? And for me to see the level of investments you have made in trying to get the baselines out is extra-ordinary".
In all, there are 17 goals set by the UN for achievements in about 8years from now as covered and implied by the “2030 Agenda”. They include, as presumably in order of priority attention: eradication of poverty; vanishing hunger in the land; good health and wellbeing; quality education for all; gender equality; access to clean water and good sanitation. Others are affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industry, innovations and infrastructure; reduce inequalities; building sustainable cities and communities and responsible consumption and production. They further include climate action; sustenance of life below the water (for survival of the aquatic lives); as much as ‘life on land’ (as in preservation of our forests and wild lives); attain peace, justice and strong institutions and, finally, using ‘partnership for (achievement) of the goals.
The question that may be asked is: how could the recently launched Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) at UNGA77 possibly be a factor of history making for Nigeria under Dr. Adefulire watch? INFF is all about the 17th item of SDG, which speaks to the need for partnership engagement for the 2030 Agenda. She had set on the framework since the year 2021 and this followed her decision to conduct an “Independent Evaluation of Priority SDGs for Nigeria”. For this, Nigeria was acknowledged and, accordingly, commended for being the first country from the Sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, out of the countries down the global South, to do such priority setting as a way of domesticating the 2030 Agenda in the custom of Nigeria’s version of “Integrated Sustainable Development Goals (iSDG) as a simulation model and local assessment analytical tool. With this, she succeeded in pushing the matters of SDG into national and sub-national development plans. The outcome of this was the first (2017 – 2020) and second 2020+ “Nigerian version of Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) of the SDG implementation progress. This gave Dr. Adefulire a resounding applause upon its presentation to the United Nations High Political Forum on SDG in 2021.
Using the INFF base line for earlier case study, she had attracted to her Office, the partnerships of Private Sector Advisory Group on SDGs; Donors Partnership Forum and Civil Society Strategy Group on SDG for desirable cooperation in the implementation SDGs.
Through these partnerships so to say, SDG projects have been delivered across all corner of Nigeria from the urban to rural sectors in health, education and poverty alleviation, which appear to be the foremost priorities of the Nigerian clime. These therefore become parts of the many ways to evaluate how the Princess of Egbeda Roya clan has touched the lives of many Nigerians besides the part of her direct political activism and leadership as a grassroots mobilizer.
From reports of available records in the OSSAP-SDG, about 200 primary health care centres are said to have been delivered across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. These are besides the ‘Mother and Child’ specialist health care sector where the range of 149-bed, 100-bed and 80-bed centres have also being built. This writer recalls his coverage of the Igando General Hospital’s, beneficiary launching in Lagos a couple of years back.
In the education sector, about 2000 primary school projects are said to have been delivered through her in about her 25 years of career as public servant. There could not have been a better testimony to acknowledgement of how far reaching she has touched lives better than the decision of the Lagos State University to award her with the Doctor of Art (Poverty Alleviation and Technology Incubation) last year. In the citation of her resume for the award, LASU management observed that: “in over 25years of public service career, she has carved out a niche for herself as an accomplished grassroots politician with a passion for the education and empowerment of women folks, youth development and the girl-child affair, as well as an administrator with a long history of great achievements”.
Although an alumni of the institution, there was no doubt that her recitation was being read with great and she seemed to acknowledge when she said the Doctoral award was a challenge for her to do more for the “unsung heroes”, whom she meant to be the vulnerable social class. “I accept it (the honour) on behalf of thousands of unsung heroes – the youth, women and the underprivileged striving to eke out a living amidst excruciating realities and those among you, particularly our graduands, who feel a measure of nervousness about the future. I feel your excitement and yet the uncertainties of the future. I am delighted to share this moment with you and assure you that the future is bright”.
Her dedication of the Doctoral to the vulnerable class is never hypocritical. She appears to passionately live for them. When she decided to build the first skill acquisition centres for youths and women across the three Senatorial Districts in Lagos when she became the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, it was borne out of empathy for the economic deprivation of the many women she found around the system of politics, who must be made to benefit from the system they believe in. Today, the skill acquisition centres has achieved her planned goals of being and educational institution in each of the local government of the state. Alimosho that is her Federal constituency however has two – the Egbeda and Egan Centre. Anyway, This part of the story is reserved for the coming story of her social and political career in our edition entitled “Unveiling the Quintessential”.
Thus on the line of her service career, she has won many laurels of the international cadre based on feat governance. Such include the Public Servant Award for the 2007 by the Scottish Widows; a United Kingdom based NGO, globally recognized on matters of widow just as the Nobel Laurites Award
For every statement of merit made about her, there is an empirical base to justify it. When the UN Deputy Secretary General claimed she had passion for innovations, the evidence is easily discernible in how she earned her world Guinness Book of Record in Children Reading Aloud with an Adult. It was like a child’s play proposal and deemed potentially an impossible task when news filtered out that she had a plan to resuscitate reading culture with the innovation of gathering about 4,000 pupils to read with them at a sitting. She achieved the feat with 4,222 school pupils in 2011 when she became the Deputy Governor, the office also held the portfolio of Commissioner of Education at the time.
Earlier in 2009 then as commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, she got the honour of Lagos State Man of the Year Award. The following year 2010, she got the Daisey George Award, given in recognition of her advocacy for children’s right and protection by the US base institution in 2018, she got the international women’s society (IWS) award in recognition of her sustained passion for women empowerment.
In specific language of recognition for accomplishing the SDG on decent work/economic growth and reduction of gender inequalities, which appear as goals 8 and 10 of the 2030 Agenda, she was inducted as a fellow of the Association of Business Executives (ABE) in the early year of 2019. The awarding institution is a UK based Business organisation.
For the murky water the political environment is deemed to be in Nigeria, the implication has robbed off the many values Dr. Adefulire should be to many progressives’ faithful in Lagos, particularly in her Alimosho Federal Constituency. This is because her extreme humility, conventional calmness and humbleness are being taken advantage off to deny her the due rightful place as Apex leader of the County’s APC. But the worst backlash of this to the detractors is that many party members being deceived daily by usurpers of her rightful authority are only being denied access to her milk of kind generosity for which those that have been privileged to drink have given her the Monica – Iya Alanu. Nevertheless, it appears to be the “Divine Time”, as Chief Sunday Aboyade, the APC Vice Chairman, Lagos Wes,t describes it to be, that many party members will come to taste out of her generosity now that she clocks 63 years of age; a time that is complemented with her official declaration as the Apex Leader of the Alimosho Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with induction into the Lagos Political ‘Hall of Fame’ – the Governance Advisory Council (GAC)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO IYA ALANU OF OUR GENERATION
As we posit in joining the OSSAP-SDG online @civicsjournal to celebrate you,we here repeat it that
the good spirit of your generosity will continue to be source of your prayers for long life in good health in multiples of the total beneficiaries todate and beyond
YET COMMING EDITION -- UNVEILING THE QUINTESSENTIAL -- IN THE PRINT MEDIA IS ABOUT HER FOOTPRINT IN THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ALIMOSHO
WATCH OUT AND BOOK A COPY WITH YOUR VENDOR
Dr. JOKE ORELOPE-ADEFULIRE MAKES ANOTHER “HISTORY” FOR NIGERIA AT UNITED NATIONS TODAY
By Razaq Adedeji Jimoh
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Dr. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire (MGAC) was said to have made another history for Nigeria with the launching of Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) Reports. The launching was performed by the President of Nigeria, Muhammodu Buhari (GCFR), on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA77) at the New York times of 11:00am, being the early hours of Nigeria today.
INFF is a development financing tool strategy initiated by the Office of Sustainable Development Goals in the Presidency in conjunctions with the Federal Ministry of Finance.
In his address at the launching, President Buhari stressed the significance of INFF as a desirable tool to “map out” the financing strategy for the achievement of development goals, which would require the supports of all partners.
He said: “It has been developed to map out a much needed sustainable financing plan for Nigeria to deliver on our commitment to SDGs and our National Development aspirations. I therefore urge all Nigerians the international community and development partners to recognize the importance of this integrated approach to financing developments”.
Giving insight to what the launching implied the Minister for Finance, Zainab Ahmed said the administration of President Buhari had “demonstrated strong commitment towards the 2030 Agenda for sustainable and development and will continue to do so”, adding that the INFF was the latest of such commitment.
In the speech of the Director General of the SDGs, a former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Orelope-Adefulire, she described the launching as a mark of “significant mile stone in commitment and efforts to achieve the SDGs in Nigeria since its adoption in 2015”. She added that it was a demonstration of “Strong partnership as a central tool for financing the 2030 Agenda of SDGs.
The coming of INFF has been described as another making of “history” by Nigeria in some quarters because she has become one of the pioneer countries to launch it. It is reported that 36 countries across the sub-sahara Africa are developing INFF with the support of 18 international financial institutions’ partnership such as the World Bank, IMF, AfDB Group and others “and here is Nigeria doing her own earlier than expected”.
The 2030 Agenda is all about the United Nations Development Programmes’ initiative of 17 human developmental goals to be achieved by the year 2030, with a call to action for universal, inclusive and indivisible achievements of the sets goals. The Nigerian chapter is being driven by Dr. Orelope-Adefulire with series of success stories trailing her appointment as the Director General.
Just a couple of days back, the people of Alimosho Federal Constituency in Lagos, were in joyous mood for her induction of into the Lagos Political Hall of Fame called the Governance Advisory Council. In an editorial comment of
Civics Weekly, this was described as a formal unveiling of her new status as the substantive leader of the Alimosho Progressives, a situation that literally came as the final settlement to the lingering leadership tussle bedeviling the All Progressives Congress (APC) of the Local Government.
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