Desk officers of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in twenty five Local Government Areas of Niger State, have been charged to take ownership of SDGs projects in their respective areas.
The Overseeing Director General of SDGs in Niger State,Hajiya Saratu Alfa Mohammed,gave the charge at a two days workshop and Interactive session with twenty five SDGs desk officers held at the conference hall of the SDG in Minna Thursday.
She also appealed to them to always engage various community and youth leaders in their respective areas on the need for them to saveguard the SDGs projects against the activities of vandals.
According to the Overseeing Director General, the workshop and Interactive session is aimed at keeping them abreast on the workplan of the SDGs in line with the new Niger agenda of the present administration governor Mohammed Umar Bago administration.
She pointed out that the governor Umar Bago commitment towards embarking on aggressive translation of rural communities in the state through SDGs cannot be overemphasize stressing that which necessitated the interactive session with the desk officers across the twenty five Local Goverment .
Hajiya Saratu Alfa assured that plan is currently underway for SDG in the state,to embark on some meaningful projects that will have direct bearings on the lives of rural communities stating that “ as desk officers, you should be inform before hand so that you will not be taking by surprise”
“ This workshop and Interactive session is to keep you inform on the plan of the governor Mohammed Umar Bago preparedness to transform the rural communities as part of his new Niger agenda.
“ As the Desk officers in the local government, you are closer to the grassroot. Your responsibility is to collaborate with your local government chairmen to identify the project that each community needs for the benefit of the community. This is what the workshop is all about” she explained.
She disclosed that since she assumed office as the Secretary and now as the overseeing Director general,this is the maiden interface she is having with them in preparation to embark on projects.
Hajiya Saratu Alfa,appealed to the desk officers to see themselves as the ambassadors of the goals in their respective local government areas stressing that they should always involve their host council chairmen in their activities.
In his remarks,the planning officer of the State Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),Alhaji Mukhtar Hassan Yahaya,urged the desk officers to involve community base organisation,faith base and youths organisation as well as community leaders in the area to safeguard the projects in their communities.
