President Muhammedu Buhari has announced the appointment of Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire as his Senior Special Assistant on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire served as Deputy-Governor of Lagos State from 2011 to May 2015 and is an accomplished politician with many years of experience in public service.
She has also served as Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in Lagos State. In the latter position, Orelope-Adefulire displayed her passion as an advocate for both women’s rights and children’s rights including:
- establishing a Transit Home for the victims of domestic violence;
- constructing a state of the art facility comprising of a Home and Clinics for Physically Challenged Children so they can live a dignified life
- Producing a Yellow Card- a simplified version of the Child Rights Law for easy dissemination amongst parents and guardians to create awareness; to prevent Child Abuse; and to serve as a warning card.
Orelope-Adefulire is also an #endpoverty advocate and accelerated the poverty alleviation programme in Lagos State while she was Governor. Of the firm belief that poverty goes beyond just inability to eat, but lack of access to basic health, malnutrition, hunger, starvation, disorientation to lack of rights and self dignity, she instigated the availability of soft loans for women and also graduates of the Vocational and Skill Acquisition Centres to empower them financially and in turn create jobs.
Orelope-Adefulire also recognised the link between domestic violence and unemployment among men while she served as Deputy Governor and Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. Since some men result in physical abuse of their wives as a result of economic frustration, she initiated partnership with selected banks for unemployed men to access loans to buy brand new taxi cabs. Over 1,000 new air-conditioned cars for poverty reduction were given out to the Taxi Association to restore hope and confidence that life is worth living.
With all of this in mind, I think we have a winning combination here with Orelope-Adefulire’s appointment. A child rights advocate; a women rights advocate and an #endpoverty advocate all in one.
Speaking on Orelope-Adefulire’s appointment, Nigeria’s Environment Minister and Former Senior Special Assistant to the President in Nigeria on MDGs, Amina J Mohammed, has called for all stakeholders in the SDGs in Nigeria to support Orelope-Adefulire, because, “her success is our success.”
