Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, has stated that the Federal Government will make the National Social Register (NSR) more interactive to enhance collaboration.
The Minister disclosed this at the Annual Ministerial Dialogue on the NSR on Tuesday in Abuja.
The aim of the dialogue was to improve a central database for the social register and work with partnering MDAs, citing the need for a main database that would be used to fight poverty and others.
“As of Jan. 31, out of the estimated 82.9 million (40.2 per cent) Nigerians living below the poverty line, we have identified and registered 26.8 million poor and vulnerable individuals.
“This is equivalent to about 6.3 million households in our country.
“We are expecting another 20 million to be added to the database, specifically targeted at urban informal workers impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic,” Farouq said.
She added that the FG will create a need for the NSR across multiple levels of governance, as a database would be used by MDAs for social intervention schemes and also used as a platform for NGOs working with the FG.
“Social registers serve both a social policy role as inclusion systems and an operational role, as information systems.
“They provide a gateway for potential inclusion of intended populations into social programmes while reducing private and public transaction costs by simplifying certain steps, such as identification and registration of people eligible for social assistance.
“They also enable better coordination across programmes, more efficient delivery and better shock response,” she added.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen added that “With the socialisation of the NSR and collaboration among the relevant stakeholders, it will go a long way to enhance achievement of Buhari’s vision of lifting 100 millions Nigerians out of poverty.”
What you should know
- Nairametrics had reported last month that the Federal Government of Nigeria launched the COVID-19 Rapid Response Register (RRR), an emergency intervention database, for the urban poor made poorer by the pandemic.
- While inaugurating the COVID-19 Rapid Response Registration (RRR) Cash Transfer Project, the Vice President said:
- “As of Dec. 31, 2020, we have identified and registered about 24.3 million poor and vulnerable individuals into the National Social Register; equivalent to about 5.7 million households.
- “With the RRR, which uses a wholly technology-based approach, we are primed to achieve an end-to-end digital foot-print in cash transfers for the urban poor.”
I have a major problem when we talk about humanitarian provisions in the face of inequality.
For any humanitarian service to be true, it is important for everyone to understand what its means and how it effects everyone. Then everyone knows who is entitled or not. Criteria and scope of overage, there are too many blurry activities.