Dean tasks federal, state governments to empower Nigerians

Tue, Jun 16, 2020
By publisher
2 MIN READ

Politics

PROF. Gafar Ijaiya, the Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ilorin (Unilorin), has advised governments at all levels to look beyond the economic empowerment of citizens and empower them politically, psychologically, and socially.

Ijaiya gave the advice on Tuesday in his lecture entitled: ”Empowering Communities in Result-oriented Projects to Enhance Sustainable Development”.

The don spoke at the 2020 Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) Week Celebrations in Ilorin.

He observed that government focussing on economic empowerment was not enough, adding that government must adopt all the four layers of empowerment to achieve all-round development.

The don, who was the Guest Speaker at the occasion, pointed out that lack of psychological empowerment of the people was seen in the distribution and collection of palliatives to cushion the effect of lockdown brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic.

He noted that while some people collected more than what was assigned to them; others were left with little or nothing in some cases.

Ijaiya noted that ”people in government seem to emphasise on economic empowerment (and) not even all that is entailed in the economic empowerment”.

“The social, psychological and political empowerment (are avoided) because they know the implication of when they empower people politically – definitely, people will come and compete with them. And you know, our politicians don’t want people to compete with them,” he said.

He described FOMWAN as a socio-religious group and commended the leadership for empowering members and communities with social and economic empowerment.

Speaking earlier at the occasion, Hajia Khairat Sodique, the Chairperson, National Committee On Community Development and Humanitarian Services, urged people in Kwara to continue to observe all the necessary COVID-19 safety protocols as advised by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

She advised that this was the only way to defeat the rampaging ccoronavirus pandemic.

In her remarks, Dr Saudat Abdulbaqi, former Head of the Department of Mass Communication, Unilorin, prayed for continued good health, peace of mind and spiritually rewarding engagements for all members  of FOMWAN.

Sidelines of the event included training on how to make Hand Sanitisers by the CEO of ‘HO Naturals cosmetics, Ms Hameedah Oladimeji. (NAN)

– Jun. 16, 2020 @ 17:39 GMT |

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