3.9m poor, vulnerable captures in Kaduna Social Register – Commissioner

3.9m poor, vulnerable captures in Kaduna Social Register – Commissioner

 

 

By: Femi Mustapha

 

As calls for effective social protection programmes in Nigeria are intensified, the Kaduna State Government has stated that the World Bank-assisted social register captured 3.9 million poor and vulnerable individuals across the State.

 

Commissioner for Planning and Budget Commission (PBC) in the State, Mukhtar Ahmed Monrovia stated this at a two-day workshop to develop guidelines and stakeholders’ engagement on the institutionalization of the State Operation Coordinating Units (SOCUs), National Social Safety Nets Programme (NASSP) under the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation – organized by Save the Children International (SCI) held on 12th – 13th October 2023.

 

According to the Commissioner, the State now has about 3.9 million poor and vulnerable residents in the social register.

 

Hon. Mukhtar Ahmed Monrovia

added that the State is already putting budget lines for social protection/security in the 2024 budget to enable it to deliver on some of the identified programmes targeting ameliorating the suffering of the poor and vulnerable residents.

 

He further remarked that the State Governor, Uba Sani aimed at touching one million poor and vulnerable residents in the first year of his administration with a 460,000 target in the first tranche.

 

According to him, “This is indeed a very good programme and coming at a right time when Nigerians need assistance financially due to the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy and forex deregulation.

 

“In Kaduna State, one of the executive orders the governor signed was the financial inclusion for poor and vulnerable persons. The Governor is targeting one million people in the first year of the implementation of the inclusive programme.

 

“According to the National Social Register, Kaduna has about 3.9 million poor and vulnerable individuals. We are not discarding that register. We only said we would look at it and make it fit for Kaduna in line with the good intentions of Mr. Governor.

 

“Our respected Governor has it as a part of his plan to uplift one million people from poverty in his first year in office starting with 460,000 in the first tranche, which means we have 20,000 poor and vulnerable targets in each of the 23 local government areas of the State.

 

“The state government has also distributed rice as palliative to about 45,000 residents in the State. Another programme includes renovating roads, and bringing back the local train transport system within the state – from Zaria to Kaduna and Kafanchan.

 

“There is also a programme of buying buses and so many other things that will cushion the effect of the hardship people are going through.

 

“In the PBC, we understand that we have to plan for this which is why in the 2024 budget, by the grace of God, the government is going to have a package that will be targeted at poor and vulnerable residents”, he added.

 

Earlier, the acting Director of Programme Operations, SCI, Mr. Joshua Anar noted that in 2020, his organisation commissioned an institutional capacity assessment of SOCU and State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU) in Anambra, Benue, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Jigawa, Yobe, and Zamfara States with the aimed at investigating the state’s capacity to deliver effective social protection interventions.

 

“The assessment was done across several domains, including, coordination, planning, financing, and so forth. The recommendations and findings of that assessment have informed our work to support the government to strengthen the programme delivery system” ” he said.