By Sarauniya Usman, Abuja
The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to President on Sustainable Development Goals (SSAP-SDGs) is collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to combat corruption in the country.
The SSAP on SDGs, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire,disclosed this when she received the EFCC delegation of the commission paid her a courtesy visit on Tuesday in Abuja.
The delegation was led by Mrs Hadiza Zubairu, Head of External Cooperation, EFCC, who represented the EFCC acting-Chairman, Mr Muhammed Umar.
Speaking on the achievements of the office,Orelope-Adefulire, said goal 16 of the SDGs, which has to do with justice and peace, end abuse and promote the rule of law has to do with the EFCC.
“What we saw during the #Endsars protest definitely speaks of out of school children and an eye opener that we have to give them jobs; not ordinary jobs and we must educate them and give them skills that can sustain them.
“We have to ensure that we don’t have a repeat of that as a country. Youths are the greatest asset we have and they must be very developed well taken care of in terms of education and skills development.“
She said the office is working with the ministries of Youth Development and Labour and Employment to see how jobs could be provided for youths, adding that it was also working with the ministry of education to reduce out of school children.
“All our schools and other vocational centres will be ready to take more people and that vocational centres can have adult literacy education while they are learning their trade.
“All these must be done and that also speaks to your own job because if they are well taken care of and given life skill development they won’t go into corruption,’’ Adefulire said.
She, therefore, called on the EFCC to sensitise parents and guardians on the need to educate their children and give them proper skills to be responsible adults.
Speaking earlier, Zubairu said they are seeking partnership with the OSSAP-SDGs because the goal 16 had to do with their mandate.
She said that it was in terms of enhancing transparency and reducing the level of corruption, governance accountability and accountability of projects.
“We have partnership with MDAs, we educate them on how to manage funds, we also try to create awareness on how people get defrauded.
“We came to see how we can collaborate and engage, acknowledging that without peace it will be impossible to achieve any of the goals.
“That is why we want to help build the capacity of the people at the grassroots by educating them on financial integrity,’’ Zubairu said
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