Blessing Maigida, the Edo State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development is an articulate and intelligent woman. In this chat with Special Correspondent, ISAAC OLAMIKAN, she speaks about the activities of her ministry and the role the minisrstry played in the rehabilitation of Danjuma, the physically challenged youngster who was dumped in a dustbin and died a few days later. She also spoke about some other issues. Excerpts:
Madam, let us have a breakdown of your scorecard since you assumed office?
I won’t score myself; rather, the masses should be the ones to score me. I know that the ministry has done a lot in different areas since I assumed office – the rehabilitation of orphans and vulnerable children; settling of marital disputes and so many other things that we’ve done to mention a few.
What are the challenges you faced when you came in?
One of the challenges this ministry is facing is the handling of the mentally deranged in the state. It’s a big challenge that we’re handling and I believe that by the grace of God we will overcome it.
How has your ministry been enlightening the public about its programmes?
It has been splendid. Like the issue of assistance to the physically challenged persons, we have made provisions for enlightening the public about it. We assist people who are underprivileged. We have ve been able to enlighten them on that then on the aspect of displaced children; we’ve also enlightened the public on that. We also take care of such children.
We want you to make an assessment of what you have been doing to ensure that parastatals and departments under your ministry are not lagging behind in the area of operating within the tenets of this administration’s policies?
We have a department of social welfare, which handles cases relating to marriage. By the special grace of God, we have been able to settle many family/marital squabbles. In the area of child development, the orphans and vulnerable children, before now you see them roaming around the streets, now we have been able to pick them off the streets. Those of them that are interested in going to school we ensure that they do that because we have free a education programme. Those of them that are interested in learning a trade we take them to our skills acquisition centre where they learn a trade. So, we have been able to do all these.
How do you handle cases where your ministry’s functions clash with those of some other ministries’? Like taking care of the vulnerable kids for instance, one will expect the Ministry of Health to play a prominent role in the aspect.
When it comes to the health of the children, we take them to the hospital. It’s not the responsibility of the Ministry of Health to handle their case except in some exceptional cases because this ministry is a social service ministry. If we do not have the resources to handle some very difficult cases, we refer them to the Ministry of Health.
In some instances, when there is religious festivities, your ministry goes to the extent of donating food items like clothing, provisions etc to some women, children and aged people. Is that of part your schedule?
We have so many festivities in the country. For instance, the children’s day is a programme that is under the control of this ministry and we ensure that the children are well catered for on the occasion. We have made provisions for the forthcoming independence day celebrations so that the orphans and vulnerable children will have a feeling of being part of the celebrations. Even the children with HIV are not left out. During the Christmas period, we also make provisions for the orphans, vulnerable children and even women (not only widows); that is being handled by the first lady and the deputy governor’s wife (Endurance Odubu).
How does your ministry and the office of the first lady relate when it comes to the issue of clash in activities and programmes?
There has not been any clash of interest. The office of the first lady and my ministry work hand in hand. It is like a child and the mother. We work together successfully.
Before your appointment as the commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, where were you?
I was in Special Duties.
How would you assess the two positions?
It takes the grace of God for one to handle the affairs of people. When I was in special duties, I was handling affairs relating to the governor’s office. Here, I am faced with handling issues relating to people. It takes the grace of God to do that.
Handling issues relating to people comes with controversies. So, how do you handle such controversies?
As I said, I put God first in all that I do and He has been helping me with wisdom and knowledge to handle the issues.
Trending on social media at the moment is the issue of Danjuma, the physically challenged youngster who died a few days ago having gone through some harrowing experience. Please shed light on the role your ministry played in the issue.
When Danjuma was brought to the ministry, we took custody of him. We kept him in a home meant for the physically challenged persons. It is our duty to make enquiries of where he is coming from, to know if he has a family or not so that we would know what to do. We were able to trace his family in Benin. We later reconciled him with one of his family members. We never knew that the family member, who accepted to take custody of him, will throw him back on the street. That was what really transpired. She agreed to take custody of the boy and we felt it was a family issue, which needed to be settled. We later heard that he died some days ago. He was even treated by the ministry after a former commissioner in the ministry rescued him from the dustbin. He was dumped in the dustbin by his uncle; the woman that rescued him wrote to us explaining what happened. That was the period I was on maternity leave. When I resumed office I ensured that he was catered for.
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