The outgoing United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Enugu Field Office head, Ibrahim Conteh has commended the Enugu State government for passing the Child Right Law during his stay in Enugu.
Conteh, who will be living Nigeria to Afghanistan, said this in his farewell address to the staff of UNICEF Enugu Field Office recently.
He also inaugurated the new UN staff Gymnasium at the UNICEF Office Enugu for the physical fitness of staff for effective service to the children and vulnerable people.
He said, although the law was drafted before he came in to head Enugu Field Office, he worked seriously with the state ministry of gender affairs and office of the first lady to ensure that the law was passed.
He advised UNICEF staff to ensure that wherever they go to do one or two things, they must leave behind something that will make a great change that people will remember them with.
“When I came to Enugu, I meet an established programme and colleagues that are already in the programme, our office does not only cover Enugu State but eight states and in all the states we have made remarkable achievements, including the IDP camp in Benue State as a result of conflict, UNICEF is supporting those IDPs with a lot of basic services,” he said.
He commended the Federal Government Nigeria and Enugu State in particular for counterpart contributions, not leaving the welfare of the children in the hands of the partners alone. “They contribute, and that is partnership and that is why we are delivering,” Conteh said.
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According to him, the capacity in the government system was so strong not to be compared with countries like Sudan which he described as a complete hand out. Where “UNICEF or UN provides a hundred percent of programmes that we deliver that is different here in Nigeria there is a counterpart contribution here. The government did not leave the welfare of the children in the hands of the partners alone, they contribute and that is partnership and that is why we are delivering.”
He also commended his colleagues in Enugu Office, saying, “One thing that stands out strongly is that Enugu Office has a very strong team, being a Chief of Field Office here your job could be very easy if you only know how to deal with people because the team we have has enormous capacity to do what they are supposed to do, the only thing you need to do is to make sure everybody does what he or she is supposed to do, making sure that you make staff happy, keep them on their toes otherwise the technical aspects of the work you don’t need to worry. I have been very lucky to meet colleagues here in Enugu who have capacity; who knows what they are doing.
“Nigeria is one of the countries I have been, specifically in Enugu here, where the programme is substantially development. Enugu is about policy development, advocacy to government because the systems are out there.”
Responding to his transfer to Afghanistan, he said: “When we had our oath of office, we agreed that wherever a child is we will go there and rescue the child,” so for me it is not a unique situation that I am going to Afghanistan I can work anywhere.
Olusoji Akinleye, UNICEF health specialist, told BusinessDay that Conteh facilitated the reconstruction of the sport facility to ensure that staff are physically fit to do their duties.
