Nigeria’s First Lady and President, Africa First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), Mrs Aisha Buhari, has charged the newly appointed AFLPM Executive Secretary, Mrs Oley Wadda, to ensure effective service delivery.
Mrs Buhari gave the charge on Monday when she received Mrs Wadda, a Gambian, at a brief reception organised in her honour at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The First Lady, who noted that the mission was established to promote peace across Africa, expressed confidence in the ability of the new appointee to deliver on her new mandate.
“Your appointment as the Executive Secretary of the Africa First Ladies Peace Mission was done in accordance with the standard of ECOWAS and A.U protocols.
“You are to take charge of the affairs of the mission and report back to the President to develop strategic plan and activities for the progress of the mission” she said.
In her acceptance speech, Mrs Wadda, thanked the president for reposing confidence in her ability to pilot the affairs of the mission.
Wadda expressed gratitude to the president for honouring her with the opportunity to serve at the higher level.
She, therefore, promised not to disappoint her, by ensuring that the mission and vision of the secretariat was achieved.
Wadda expressed her readiness to work with the president to promote the mission, purpose and the vision of the AFLPM.
She emphasised the need for the mission to create new visibility by focusing on three areas of development work, especially on education, health, youths, women and empowerment.
“I am excited to work with you, your team and the Africa First Ladies Peace Mission.
“I am excited because this is an opportunity for me to expose the work of the Africa First Ladies Peace Mission to spread the message of peace building across Africa.
“I am excited because I am going to work with first ladies to be able to make sure that the areas of peace building that have hampered this continent will eventually come to an end,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the new AFLPM Executive Secretary is a strategic analyst and expert in Africa and international development cooperation with over 25 years experience.
Meanwhile, the First Lady also met with the contractors handling the construction of the permanent secretariat of AFLPM.
The contractors were led by their Operations Manager, Engr. Chadi Jawish, who was at the State House to update her on the progress of work on the project.
Jawish explained that the secretariat which has five floors consisted of thirteen meeting rooms, a recreational park with a section for African Village.
The building is expected to be completed in January 2023.
The First Lady also explained that the reason for constructing an African Village within the secretariat was to provide the opportunity for the exhibition of African cultural artifacts.
She added that the facility would benefit pupils during the celebration of the day for the African child.
NAN reports that Buhari had laid the foundation of a befitting permanent secretariat for the Mission in Nov. 2021(NAN)