Earlier today, I played host to the Director-General of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Prof. Ayo Omotayo and his management team.

The thrust of our meeting was to brainstorm and identify possible areas of collaboration towards taking further steps to improve on the socio-economic status of Nigerian Women and also improve the welfare and wellbeing of the vulnerable.

One area that caught my attention was the establishment of a Gender Centre on Public Policy by the Institute which will no doubt bolster our drive on policy initiatives and implementation that will promote gender equality and inclusion. The NIPSS remain the nation’s policy foremost think-tank which develops a crop of top-class technocrats of high intellectual capacity that conceptualizes and anchors the implementation of innovative and dynamic policy initiatives and strategies that are critical for national development.

For me, it’s a huge and positive trajectory for us in the Ministry for a reputable institute like NIPSS to veer into gender matters. It is envisaged that the Gender Centre will open up new vistas of opportunities for us to have impactful policies that promote the interest of Women in Nigeria.

Part of the outcomes of our meeting was for NIPSS to harness relevant agencies and actors in the private sectors to partner with us in the area of research that will churn out affordable and high yield seedlings and fabrication of local machines to promote our drive on Agri-Business for our Women.

The assurances we got from the Director-General and his management team goes to underscore their willingness to actively align the NIPSS with the Ministry’s programs and by extension, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s policy thrust on Renewed Hope for all Nigerians.