Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has commended the activities of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its global interventions to improve the wellbeing and livelihood of the poorest people in the world.
Mrs Buhari gave the commendation while receiving co-founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates, who paid her a visit at the State House on Thursday.
The Nigerian first lady spoke on the need to have stronger support from the foundation as well as more productive and enduring partnerships with relevant bodies in Nigeria to implement reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health.
She affirmed her commitment to continue to advocate and mobilise resources to improve the lives of women and children in Nigeria.
Mrs. Gates expressed her satisfaction with her host’s Future Assured programme for the way it is touching the lives of the poor and vulnerable in the society, and said efforts like that count in the individual lives of the beneficiaries of the programme.
She highlighted the need for role models in the society like Mrs Buhari, saying “it is girls that grow up to become mothers and these girls need role models to emulate”.
Mrs Gates extended her commendation to the wives of state governors who are doing everything possible to reduce negative health outcomes in their various states. She urged them to use their voices as the President’s wife is using hers to make a difference.
Earlier, Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, commended the progress of the Future Assured programme especially in the area of malnutrition through its direct support and advocacy and called on the Mrs. Gates to leverage on the platform provided by the wives of the governors in order to achieve faster turn-around towards achieving the targets of the foundation.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuosho, in his goodwill message promised that the Senate will continue to provide necessary legislation for effective health service delivery in the country.
The meeting was attended by wives of state governors, and other relevant stakeholders.
