BY EMMA PETER, ABUJA
Haj. Aishet Oyiza Omade is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and political mobiliser whose public service journey spans grassroots engagement, community development, humanitarian intervention and social investment administration in Kogi State.
She is the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Kogi State Social Investment Programme Agency (KOSSIPA), where she oversees initiatives designed to support vulnerable citizens, empower small-business owners and improve access to social welfare opportunities.
Omade’s involvement in public service dates back to 2011, when she served as Senior Special Assistant on Community Services to the then Kogi State Governor, according to published profiles. She subsequently served as Special Adviser on Grassroots Mobilisation to former Governor Yahaya Bello and later as Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Community Engagement.
Her political experience includes serving as a pioneer Deputy State Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State and Director-General of the Prince Abubakar Audu Campaign Organisation in Kogi Central in 2016. She was introduced to politics by the late former governor, Prince Abubakar Audu.
Beyond political organisation, Omade has been associated with humanitarian initiatives supporting women, young people, elderly citizens and economically disadvantaged households. Her public profile also includes involvement in entrepreneurship and community engagement.
In March 2024, she assumed office as head of KOSSIPA, bringing her grassroots experience into an institutional role focused on social intervention. In February 2026, she was also reported to have been appointed National Deputy Director of Contact and Mobilisation for the Relax, Tinubu Is Fixing Nigeria movement.
At the heart of Omade’s responsibilities at KOSSIPA is the challenge of connecting government social investment policies with the everyday needs of citizens. In communities where poverty, unemployment and limited economic opportunities affect households, well-designed interventions can provide relief while creating pathways towards self-reliance.
Social investment involves more than distributing cash or relief materials. It requires identifying eligible beneficiaries, ensuring transparency in programme delivery and monitoring whether interventions produce meaningful improvements in people’s lives.
During her first anniversary in office in March 2025, KOSSIPA highlighted several initiatives involving business support, educational assistance, food distribution and welfare programmes for vulnerable residents.
Among the reported interventions was financial assistance of ₦50,000 each to widows and single mothers to support their businesses and improve their economic circumstances. The agency also reported distributing food items and essential supplies to vulnerable households, including a Ramadan charity initiative that reached more than 500 households.
For women who bear the responsibility of providing for their families, such assistance can offer temporary relief and help sustain small businesses. Its long-term value, however, depends on whether beneficiaries can build stable livelihoods and improve their household income.
Omade’s reported social investment activities have also included educational support. In March 2025, the agency announced financial assistance to six students and a full university scholarship for Abdulqudus, a 13-year-old apprentice.
Educational assistance can open doors for young people whose circumstances might otherwise restrict their opportunities. When supported by transparent selection procedures and effective monitoring, scholarships and grants can contribute to human capital development and prepare beneficiaries for productive futures.
Her humanitarian activities have extended beyond formal agency programmes to individual cases involving people facing difficult circumstances.
In April 2026, Kogi Reports published an account of an intervention involving an elderly woman whose living conditions had attracted public attention. The report stated that assistance included financial support towards renovating her home and addressing her immediate welfare needs.
Another report in June 2026 highlighted an intervention involving the My People First Foundation, associated with Omade, which provided financial assistance towards the medical treatment of a young footballer receiving care at the Federal Teaching Hospital in Lokoja.
These interventions illustrate the importance of responding to immediate human needs, whether involving inadequate housing, medical expenses or household hardship. While individual acts of assistance can make a difference, sustainable social protection requires institutions capable of reaching eligible people consistently and fairly.
Omade’s experience in grassroots mobilisation provides a relevant background to her present responsibilities. Her earlier community engagement roles involved interacting with citizens and understanding concerns that affect households at the local level.
At KOSSIPA, those responsibilities translate into the need for effective programme coordination, reliable beneficiary records and transparent processes for delivering assistance. The agency’s reported ward-to-ward sensitisation and data collection exercise in Okehi Local Government Area in 2025 reflected efforts to improve beneficiary identification and strengthen programme implementation.
Reliable data can help identify underserved communities, reduce duplication and ensure that available resources reach people who meet established eligibility criteria. Equally important is the need to assess whether interventions lead to measurable improvements in beneficiaries’ circumstances.
As head of the agency, Omade’s leadership will be judged not only by the number of programmes announced but also by their reach, transparency and results. Business support should help entrepreneurs sustain or expand their enterprises, educational assistance should enable students to pursue their studies, and welfare interventions should provide meaningful relief to vulnerable households.
Her wider public engagement, including her reported national mobilisation appointment in February 2026, reflects her continued involvement in political organisation. Nevertheless, her responsibilities at KOSSIPA require the agency’s social investment programmes to remain guided by established criteria, fairness and the needs of eligible beneficiaries, irrespective of political affiliation.
The broader challenge for KOSSIPA is to ensure that immediate relief contributes to longer-term resilience. Financial assistance can help a trader restock a shop, a scholarship can give a young person access to education, and medical support can ease the burden of an emergency. Linking such interventions with skills development, business guidance and effective monitoring can strengthen their lasting impact.
For Omade, the task is therefore not simply to administer social programmes but to ensure that they respond to community needs and deliver verifiable outcomes. Collaboration with relevant government institutions, local communities and development partners can further strengthen programme delivery and expand opportunities for vulnerable residents.
Ultimately, the significance of social investment lies in the opportunities it creates and the dignity it helps restore. For families facing hardship, assistance can provide immediate relief; for young people, it can open educational opportunities; and for small-business owners, it can offer a chance to improve their livelihoods.
Haj. Aishet Oyiza Omade’s public service journey brings together grassroots mobilisation, humanitarian engagement and social investment administration. Through her leadership of KOSSIPA, the central challenge remains ensuring that reported interventions translate into measurable improvements in the lives of Kogi State residents.
The enduring measure of success will be the agency’s ability to reach eligible citizens transparently, use available resources responsibly and help vulnerable households build more secure and independent futures.
Emma Peter writes from Abuja. (oxfordreporters52@gmail.com or 09152514499)
