Politics
By Benprince Ezeh
ANDREW David Adejo, permanent secretary, Political and Economic Affairs Office, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, has said that volunteerism is a critical tool for national development which has since been adopted by the developed countries of the world as another way to contribute to the socio-economic development of communities and the country at large.
He stated this in a keynote address at the sensitization workshop on Volunteerism and Development for Ministries, Extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies, MDAs, and the unveiling of the National Policy on Inclusive Volunteerism, NAPIV.
The workshop themed: “Promoting and Harnessing the Potentials of Nigerians for National Development through Volunteerism” was held on Thursday, May 6, in Abuja.
Adejo said that various studies have shown and proven the enormous contribution of volunteerism to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of many countries.
“Volunteerism and Development is commonly achieved through building a formidable volunteer culture and inculcating the ideals of volunteerism within the citizenry in order to harness the inherent potentials to complement national development efforts. This workshop is therefore organized for officials of MDAs who have the reservoir of professional and dedicated staff that could easily be mobilized to contribute their services on voluntary basis to the development of the country. The MDAs shall also while implementing the Policy, recruit and accept volunteers to serve and contribute to the realization of organizational goals within a specified period.”
According to him, the Nigerian government has recognized volunteerism as a potential force and veritable tool, capable of complementing Government efforts in promoting good governance.
In recognition of this, the Federal Government in 2003 established the Nigerian National Volunteer Service, NNVS Department, to promote, encourage, enhance, manage, harness and effectively deploy volunteer services and activities of Nigerians for development,” he said.
Realnews reports that since its establishment, the department has developed strategies to implement its mandate. “In this context, the NNVS Department had undertaken various activities including several voluntary rural Medical Missions and facilitating foreign Medical Missions, carried out City Changer Campaigns on environmental sanitization and management and organised a good number of International Volunteers Day events.
“It is important to note that while implementing these activities, the Office identified the need for a Policy framework to properly guide and provide direction for effective management of Volunteerism in the country. The Policy and its Action Plan was approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC on Wednesday, 9th December, 2020, for implementation. The policy document will therefore be unveiled to the participants today to commence its implementation among the MDAs. The OSGF has also established the National Volunteer Database for profiling and easy deployment of Volunteers for services at various MDAs and organizations.
“The efforts of the Government in promoting and harnessing the potentials of Nigerians for development through Volunteerism, and the resultant benefits cannot be overemphasized. This effort will no doubt raise the profile of Volunteerism in the society. However, there is need to reposition volunteerism, promote and build necessary capacities to effectively handle volunteerism so as to contribute to the successful implementation of both national and international development goals,” Adejo said.
He also emphasized the crucial role of stakeholders which is expected and urgently required to assist government in the important task of promoting and harnessing the potentials of volunteerism for development.
“The MDAs will always play a vital role in the recruitment and redeployment of volunteers for services in the various areas of the economy towards development. The volunteers’ efforts will greatly be of resourcefulness in critical areas such as Education, Health, Skill Circulation, Environment, Agriculture, Humanitarian, Science/Technology, Emergency, Migration, Investment, Sports, Power, Resource Missions, Traffic Management, Orderliness and Discipline, amongst others.
“I am happy to see that some of your organisations are already doing great work in the area of volunteerism. We only seek to expand these areas, share experiences and engender a common understanding of how the country can reap the optimal benefits from its crop of volunteers.
“The Policy to be unveiled today provides us with some level of guidance which our field level experiences would further improve. I, therefore, want to use this opportunity to charge you all as Focal persons to be our champions of volunteerism in your various MDAs. On the part of the Office of the SGF, I wish to assure you of all the required support to enable you implement this policy as it relates to your ministry,” the permanent secretary said.
– MAY 07, 2021 @ 18:05 GM
Tags: Volunteerism critical tool for national development - Adejo
