I got an appointment in the civil service because there were lots of works in civil society and education. I was asked by the former president Olusegun Obasanjo and the minister of education Professor Aborisade to come and lead the work of initiating the national education plan for Nigeria, which I did for almost four years. I later became the senior personal assistant to the MDG. We were utilizing our derive by billions dollar a year, every year, for seven years. We were just making a difference in the lives of poor people in the health and education sector. When I finished that, I went to teach for a year at the Columbia University in New York. It was Masters in development and politics. So, it was like, what was the story about and how did I transition to natural practical issue on the ground and implementation and then the secretary general asked me to come and lead for him in part and shaping the sustaining development goals. We had to get four years before getting seventeen goals. We got the financing framework. We were making sure that we had agreement till the climate change was facilitated, till I finished that. Also, this is another incredible privilege to serve under President Muhammadu Buhari administration. Where are you from? Basically, my father is a Nigerian from Gombe, north-west, but my mother is English from the United Kingdom. Considering your experience from leadership, what would you say about gender issues, especially in Nigeria? Well, I am passionate about women issues. When we talk about gender balances between men and women, we should be partners. There is always a sense of equality that depends on the circumstances we find ourselves. We lead in homes to nurture the families and to make sure that we set values and norms so that we embrace the things that will engender our children and society. Although men have other roles, yet I think basically that it is having an opportunity to aspire and achieve your potentials. No one should put no barriers around them because if you do that, what it means is that you are prohibiting the society from having the best it deserves. I think what we do often is to invest more into our sons than the daughters. So, it makes the equation imbalance. I think we have to balance the equation by putting more in the other gender. Currently, in Nigeria today, leadership and decision making are in access to education compare to some countries. I think we are far behind. What we have to do when we are in positions is add more values to people’s lives and remind them of what they are better off doing. Mothers and children are part of the economy, and if we must make it grow then we must invest in the women. Basically, education is the entry point, but it is not the only one element. It is important to have the education but it is more important to be exposed and to have many experiences. Also, one must have the opportunity to utilize the education. What is your relationship with other ministers? Do you get intimidated as a woman? My colleagues in the council do not intimidate me because they are my friends, brothers and sisters. All of them are fine people. They are incredible people. They are also experts in terms of contributing to the economy and the society. In fact, I have learned a lot from them, and I hope I have something to share with them as well. This is teamwork and we have the president with us. It is very clear about what he wants to achieve with the time that he has and given us a mandate to go out there and make things happen. Therefore, we need to do the best that we know we can do. And he believes we can deliver. I think he has chosen us for our integrity and for the result that we have in our careers. We have to prove that to him and to our cabinet also. We need to prove that to the Nigerians who voted president Muhammadu Buhari into the office. As the ministry come in here it has been that we here for a very short time. It is just that we have come to meet an institution, and whether that institution is functioning or not, it is our jobs to make it better than how we have come to meet it. There are many people in this ministry. We are fortunate that our permanent secretary, minister of state, directors and great people are here in this ministry. I am beginning to see their capacity on what they can do to put forward the agenda that we have for the ministry of environment and help to succeed in the change agenda. NAIJ.com: Can you tell us what you have achieved since you resumed office a few months ago? Well it is a very short time. People talk about what you are getting into, not about what you have inherited or come to meet. So, you may not know how to tackle it and address it. It is very important for us to know what we have in place. We have spent a good deal of time accessing what the ministry has done in the last four to five years. And, know our coming together is what this ministry wants to achieve as this administration is using this ministry as one of the six core pillars. So, we are very clear to do the first thing that we want to do with the change agenda and to emulate what the president is talking about of empowering people and giving jobs. The first thing is, we must empower people. The second thing is to talk about the climate change and to take the action we need for that. When we look at the climate actions, we can take it in many ways which will help to become the solution that to address the root of many conflicts that we have in this country. So, some people seem not to have anything else to do, only to further the conflicts. But, we just have to protect our environment from violence, pollution, erosion and de-forestation. So, all these things are big issues for us and you saw recently what we were able to do. It has been on a drawing board for a long time that nothing much has been happening in our environment. But now, we have got a structure to put things in place. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Mrs Mohammed walking out at the national stadium in Abuja on Saturday. We are planning for twenty to twenty-five years of laying foundation and addressing the radiation before talking about the restoration. Therefore, now we have been able to pass a couple of regulation for sanitation and we want the national council on environment to lodge our campaign. We have relationship with water resources for the cleaning of our environment. So, that is how it works. All empty bags, pure water nylon and empty bottles would be taken off the street Oshiomhole We will empower people to do that. We will start planting trees. Not just the any tree for shield but economy trees like cashew, pear trees across eleven states where the best plant has scale for plantation. Therefore, our women and young people could start to engage in this planting and the grain green world could then become an economy corridor. That is it, it is really exciting. The office here in Abuja would be relocated to Kano. We have a lot of programmes that we have come up with. One of these programmes is a world support initiative that would be used to address gully erosion across the country. It is taking a lot of comprehensive look about how you address the states. It is not just looking at the erosion to block the roads, it is all about what we can really do, to stop the blockage of that in the future.
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