Bernard Doro on Tuesday officially assumed duty as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, following his appointment by President Bola Tinubu.
Doro becomes the fourth person to head the ministry, taking over from Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who now serves as the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress.
The new minister, accompanied by his wife, Dr Naomi Doro, and other well-wishers, was received by the Minister of State, Dr Yusuf Sununu; the Permanent Secretary, Dr Yakubu Kofarmata; and other senior officials of the ministry.
Speaking during his maiden address to ministry staff and heads of agencies, Doro outlined his vision and reaffirmed his commitment to President Tinubu’s poverty-reduction agenda.
He vowed to prioritise programmes aimed at lifting more than 60 per cent of Nigerians currently experiencing multidimensional poverty.
The minister stressed that collaboration and diligence within the ministry would be crucial to achieving the administration’s goal of “making hope a reality” for the poor.
Doro said, “I have lived in the UK for over two decades, so there will be a bit of adjustment to make, but I believe that by leveraging your experience, technical knowledge, and my willingness to learn, we can take this ministry to greater heights.
“For some reason, there have been great expectations of me, I’m not sure why, but the bar has been set so high, and I need to work extra hard to make sure that I even get to half of the bar that has been set for me.
“I believe that we will work together to achieve even beyond that. So, my goal is simple. Mr President wants to renew the hope of Nigerians, and especially those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
“This country, by statistics, has over 60 per cent multi-dimensionally poor people. I’m sure we can do better with the resources that we have as a country. And it is our job, as the humanitarian affairs ministry and poverty reduction, to help those people move up from where they are.
“We can help them to make sure that we achieve social mobility. We can do this because of the experience that is in the house, and we will do this by working together and by collaborating. We will do this by ensuring that we are accountable to one another.
“The goal is to make sure that we make hope a reality for those demographics that we are serving, and we would be selfless in doing that.”
Doro also stated that trust is vital to achieving the ministry’s set objectives.
He said, “It feels at home, and I must say it feels like a family, and I want to believe that I can understand the culture here and be part of that culture. You can rest assured that the positive aspects of the culture here will be maintained. And where we need to rejig, we’ll need to challenge ourselves.
“I can see a team here, and a team is not just people who work together; it is people who actually trust one another. I believe that one element that is important for us is that we can trust one another as we work together, because that is how we can achieve the intended objective.
“I am taking over from someone who is a friend, who is a mentor. And it’s indeed a big shoe to fill, a big shoe to step into, but one thing that gives me courage is the fact that I have got experienced individuals here, and I know that you will support me to not only get into the shoe, but to walk in it comfortably.”
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