By Issa Itopa Lucky


Doubtless, Sadiya Farouq is one of the most misunderstood officials of the President Buhari-led Federal Government.

This fact should ordinarily not come strange to anyone who understands the burden of public service.

Ordinarily, Sadiya Farouq is not the only minister in the Buhari-led federal cabinet but the rate at which Nigerians have a perverse mindset about what can obtain from any office with high responsibility, is one militating factor. To this end, even if she is doing well, they will insist on the false narrative of how she is a bad person.

Expectedly there are going to be fifth columnists with narratives that they themselves can’t substantiate if they are put to truth test.

While for the fact that the minister is a transparent person, hence she likes to declare facts as they are per time; there are however a few misguided elements out there who are professional merchants in the art of reading misleading meanings to the sincerity and stewardship of the minister, to the general public.

The truth stands supreme and cannot be contested that Sadiya has tried her best thus far; in fact she has surpassed expectation as her office is a pioneer office. This is true as before her there was never such ministry at first. Inspite of being the pioneer minister of the ministry that is yet saddled with very sensitive duties of caring for the needy, she has at all times acted in good fate in the best interest of Nigerians and she is one minister with clean records till date, in as much as stewardship is concerned.

In a country where a few want to continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor masses; expectedly, narratives that can put the Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development minister in bad light, are all over the place, some of which may have been sponsored by aggrieved minds that have been unsuccessful at manipulating the minister to their own personal favour.

Since they have failed to corrupt her, they can therefore be out to tarnish her image as she has been a hard nut to crack as she has refused to bow to corruption and has rather insisted on doing her job with even a conscious bid to ensure that she reaches out to the poorest of the poor in the daily course of the duties of her office.

Howbeit, Sadiya Farouq has thus far proven that “there remain a few that have not bowed to Baal” and that she leads the pack on such integrity rating.

She has given the corrupt minds hovering around her ministry with a bid to steal what belongs to the poor, tough time and has since disappointed them a million times and more.

By the burden of her office, she is like the second person the poorest of the poor look up to for succour and dividends of democracy after President Buhari.

Therefore she owes the citizens of the country, especially the poor and the poorest of the poor, the duty to stand by them (the poor and the poorest of the poor), come what may, in the discharge of the daily duties of her office.

Indeed, so great a burden Sadiya Farouq bears but for her detractors who would not let her get the credit she deserves.

As persons cast aspersion at her while judging her services and the burden of her office, nobody is saying a word about those who sabotage her efforts at the state and local levels of the federation.

Ordinarily, Sadiya Farouq cannot be in all the 36 states of the federation including FCT at the same time. To this rescue, various committees and groups are put together to aid the discharge of the duties of her office at the grassroot levels, but sad enough, if there be complains inspite of the painstaking effort she put into planning process, only her should not be called out if there is need for anybody to be called out in judgement of her burden of office, rather those implementing the directives of her office at the grassroot should be called out and to account for how they have been going about the directive of her office where implementation has been adjudged to have fallen short of public expectation.

Nobody has for once faulted the efforts of her office. In fact she has been commended for her vision and mission; but the point of grassroots implementation is where she is faced with lots of sad and “below public expectation” feedbacks.

To this end, one must call a spade a spade than call a dog by a bad name just to hang it.

The minister inherited the NPower, tradermoni, famermoni programmes and she has thus far fared well.
She has fared well with the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) programme. She has fared well with the home-grown school feeding programmes. She has launched relief materials to nooks and crannies of the country faced by any natural or human disaster. These and many more efforts of hers sum up to the programmes and policies with which the Federal Government is today impacting the grassroots with a bid to deliver dividends of democracy to the grassroots.

Taking all these great feats of hers into stock, there is therefore need for we Nigerians to start shifting our criticisms toward those implementing the various programmes of the ministry, to call them to account. Just as the minister is ultimately accountable to Nigerians who are the taxpayers, so also those at the grassroots need to be called out and called to account, since in the end, it is all taxpayers money, regardless of the portfolio of who is in charge per time per level of governance.


The minister alone cannot get it all done. Nigerians must join hands with her and her office to make it happen. Sadiya Farouq is trying her best daily, to prove that Nigeria truly belongs not only to the rich but to even the poor and even the poorest of the poor. The masses should therefore rally round her instead of joining up with corrupt individuals and groups that are aggrieved at her good works as she is relentlessly insisting and ensuring that the dividends of democracy reach the grassroots and the poorest of the poor, against all odds.