Kaduna Registers 2.4M poorest of the Poor households for Social Intervention.
The Kaduna State Government says it has captured 2.4 million individuals from 607,974 poor and vulnerable households in its Social Register, as approved by the National Social Register.
Mrs Nina Yakwal, Coordinator, State Operations Coordinating Unit, (SOCU), Planning and Budget Commission, made this known in Kaduna on Friday, at a one-day Media Engagement on the State Social Register and Rapid Response Register.
Yakwal said the figure was a significant increase from the 2.1 million individuals from 524,424 poor and vulnerable households, captured in April.
According to her, the 2.4 million figure has put Kaduna as one of the top three states in the country, with the highest number captured in the social register.
“Out of the figure, more than 1.2 million individuals, representing 52.1 per cent are females, while more than 1.1 million, representing 47.9 per cent, are males.
“Also, 49,922, representing 2.1 per cent in the register, are persons with disabilities,” she said.
She added that 94. 5 per cent of the poor and vulnerable captured in the register, lives in rural areas, with only 5.5 living in urban areas usually called the urban poor.
The coordinator said the State Executive Council had directed the use of the Social Register as the primary source of data for all pro-poor interventions in the state.
She disclosed that so far, more than 208, 000 poor and vulnerable persons had been selected from the social register to benefit from different pro-poor intervention programmes in the state.
She identified some of the programmes to include National Conditional Cash Transfer, Health Insurance Scheme, Financial Inclusion, Needs-Based Scholarship, COVID-19 food items palliative, and Labour-Intensive Public Works, among others.
She said periodic updates of the social register would be done to identify those who had been lifted out of poverty, while bringing into the data bank, those who had fallen into poverty.
“The state government is also working to scale-up National Identification Number registration of identified poor and vulnerable individuals in the register, to promote inclusion at all levels of social protection delivery in the State,” she added.
On the Rapid Response Register (RRR), Yakwal said so far, 51,181 urban and semi urban poor had been registered for the intervention in the state, explaining that about 500 applicants had also been sampled for validation.
She added that out of the 500 sampled applicants, data of over 337 potential beneficiaries had so far been validated by enumerators and sent to the national office for immediate payment, which would begin within the month.
She explained that the RRR was an intervention by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, for urban and semi-urban poor, who had lost their income streams and became poorer due to COVID-19.
“Individuals and households in the RRR will be paid N5,000 monthly for six months under an expanded Cash Transfer Programme of the Federal Government and the World Bank,” she said.
The Planning and Budget Commissioner, Mr Thomas Gyang, explained that the social register of the poor and vulnerable households would help in promoting inclusive delivery of social protection interventions.
Gyang, who was represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary, Mrs Jummai Bako, said the register facilitated informed decision-making, based on credible and verifiable data.
He assured that the state government would continue its agenda of putting people first in its social and economic policies.
He commended Jalad Media Concept and other media organisations for their support in creating the needed awareness about the population and usage of the social register.
Earlier, the Executive Director, Jalad Media Concept, Mr Joshua James, who organised the event, said that the organisation would continue to open more platforms for citizens to engage the government. (NAN)
