From: Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
4,350,000 of about 10 million people resident in Kaduna State are poor and vulnerable to economic realities around them.
Coordinator, Kaduna State Operation Coordinating Unit (KADSOCU), National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), Mrs. Dawong Nina Yakwal gave the statistics in a presentation during the 2nd quarterly roundtable media engagement on the status of the State Social Register (SSR) held yesterday.
According to her, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that about 43.5 percent of the State’s population are living below $1.5 per day and most of them reside in rural parts of the state.
She added that a total of 2,366,753 individuals from 607,974 poor and vulnerable households in Kaduna state have been identified and approved into the National Social Register (NSR).
Mrs. Yakwal said KADSOCU which domiciled in Planning and Budget Commission in the state appeared to have more works to do in identifying and capturing the remaining people who may have been excluded in its current data gathering, analysis, and presentation going by the NBS statistics.
She, however, explained that the achieveent recorded by SOCU within a short period in the state is now coming as one of the three top states in the country in terms of data generated in the register. “The first and second states are Kebbi and Zamfara while Jigawa came fourth.
“ So far, 12 organizations which include; KADCHMA, CACOVID CBN, Aids Foundation, Uba Sani Foundation, Grant for Rural Women Project, Epilepsy Foundation of Nigeria, Labour Intensive and Public Works, AGILE, KADSSLB, and National Aged and PWDs had at one point in time or the other mined data from the newly populated social register for various interventions targeted at the poor and vulnerable.”
Co-convener and Executive Director, JALAD Media Concept, Joshua James, noted that the one-day media engagement became necessary because Kaduna as a subscriber of the international accountability platform called for Open Government Partnership (OGP) and need to open more space for the media as a deliberate plan to improve government and citizens engagement which will, in turn, rebuild the lost trust between the lead and the led.
Earlier, Commissioner, Planning and Budget Commission, Thomas Gyang, who was represented by the acting permanent secretary in the Commission, Jumai Bako, noted that the social register would continue to be helpful in the promotion of inclusiveness in the delivery of social protection interventions and programs in Kaduna State.
Gyang restated the commitment of the administration of Governor Nasir El-Rufai towards continuous support to partners who want to be part of the administration’s mandate of putting people first.
