 between Nigeria and Türkiye on family){kind=link}
Nigeria’s Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has held a high-level bilateral meeting with the Turkish Minister for Family and Social Services, Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş to kick-start implementation of agreements on Family cohesion and social welfare strengthening.
This follows the landmark signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Nigeria and Türkiye on strengthening Family cohesion and social welfare;
Ministers on the Nigerian delegation, in the company of President Bola Tinubu on his first official state visit to Türkiye, had made commitments with the signing of nine bilateral agreements.
The discussions came after months of engagements that culminated in the historic signing of the agreement, signalling a new level of cooperation in the development of women and social welfare for national development.
The synergising meeting followed a parallel ministerial bilateral engagement earlier held in Ankara by the Nigerian Minister of Women Affairs with her Turkish counterpart after the ceremonial signing of the agreement.
Held at the Afrika House, a distinguished hub for African cultural exhibitions and heritage established by the First Lady of Türkiye, Emine Erdoğan, focus was on developing a robust implementation framework.
Discussions centred on structural strengthening, the establishment of facilities and physical spaces for families, children, persons with disabilities and senior citizens, knowledge exchange, and the creation of sustainable pipelines for women’s trade and economic empowerment.
The strategic engagement demonstrates the Ministry’s commitment to translating President Bola Tinubu’s historic partnership into meaningful, deliverable, and evident improvements in the lives of Nigerian women, children, families, and vulnerable groups across the nation.
The core provisions of the MoU include strengthening Families by facilitating Nigeria’s first National Action Plan on Families by year-end, with the Care Economy as a critical pillar to support family structures.
Empowering Women/Protecting Children
It also covers empowering Women by Promoting entrepreneurship, strengthening socio-economic status, and establishing mentoring mechanisms to foster solidarity.
It further protects Children through the development of holistic protection systems and early intervention mechanisms to prevent neglect and abuse and the inclusion of Vulnerable Groups by ensuring full social participation for persons with disabilities and promoting “active aging” for senior citizens.
Speaking on what Family cohesion and social welfare agreement secured by President Bola Tinubu potends for Nigerian families, Minister Iman Suleiman-Ibrahim said;
“We’ve engaged extensively, we’ve been able to come out of very concrete plans on how we can be able to strengthen our family agenda of Mr president as part of our of our family first agenda. We’re trying to strengthen our social workforce, we’re trying to emplace a strong social cohesion strategy that will protect not just the family unit but in terms strengthening our communities and also provide a social and economic opportunities for our women, the vulnerable, the elderly”.
The meeting underscores government’s commitment to the accelerated implementation of its side of the agreement with the Turkish government to maximise the benefits of the renewed partnership.