United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) has established a new institute of Social Policy Studies at the Nsukka campus of the university.
Speaking with journalists after unveiling the new institute, the officer in-charge of UNICEF Enugu Field Office, Olusoji Akinleye, said the partnership with UNN was a development that came as a result of long collaborations that UNICEF had with the university through conferences and workshops.
“UNICEF uses academics in overseeing most of its programmes, that is how this partnership started first of all, with conferences, workshops along the line training of government officials, before this one,” he said.
Also speaking, the director of the new institute, Okey Ikeanyibe, said many people were thinking that social policies were all an comers’ affair, adding that such notions lead to the failure of many social policy programmes of various administrations.
“For example, a lot of poverty alleviation policies in the country are being implemented by politicians which are not supposed to be so, there is eligibility and processes of doing all these things,” he said.
He said UNN was collaborating with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to make the institute stand the test of time.