ABUJA – (Wife of the President Office Report) – President Muhammadu Buhari has commended the Wives of Governors for the various humanitarian activities they carry out in their states. He made the commendation when the wives of state governors paid him a visit at the Presidential Villa on Saturday lately, under the auspices of the Northern and Southern Governors Wives Forum.
President Buhari assured the governors’ wives of his support, promising that he would canvass more moral and financial support for them. He expressed appreciation for the role they have been playing, saying their works have helped in pricking the conscience of the people. He especially commended the work on the IDPs and disadvantaged children as well as the fight against drug abuse.
He also encouraged them to interface with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture over the existing and new opportunities provided for women farmers and entrepreneurs to take advantage of.
In her remarks at the occasion, the Wife of the President, Aisha Muhammadu Buhari underscored the complementary role that the Wives of Governors play in supporting the programmes and policies of their husbands. She stressed the need for the governors to encourage them, highlighting the areas where efforts are more pronounced such as girl-child education, child abuse, women and youth empowerment and health promotion.
“As mothers of the states, the Wives of Governors have the ears of women and youths. This is so because they run programmes that directly touch these categories of Nigerians,” she said, calling on the President to support their work.
The Chairperson of the Northern Governors Wives Forum, who is the Wife of the Governor of Bauchi State, Hadiza Abubakar said that apart from issues of maternal health and girl-child education, the flagship programme of the forum is the prevention of substance abuse for which they have rallied stakeholders to come to a holistic solution. She commended the ban on codeine-content cough syrups, describing it as a major breakthrough. The Forum, she stated is advocating the revival of moribund drug rehabilitation centres and the establishment of new ones in states that do not have them.
On her part, the Chairperson of the Southern Governors Wives Forum, who is the Wife of the Governor of Imo State, Nkechi Okorocha disclosed that their activities take a cue from the works of Aisha Buhari’s Future Assured Programme and focuses on issues of cultism, kidnapping, child labour, baby factories and youth restiveness. She indicated that the forum had trained 1,000 women in different skills, whilst 2,000 school children have been supported with educational materials.
The highlight of the event was the making of presentations by the Chairperson of the Southern Governors Wives Forum and Chairperson of the Northern Governors Wives Forum to the President.
By Suleiman Haruna
