Benue: UNICEF, ILO begin review of Social Register to address vulnerabilities

• 1.7million poor Benue individuals on social register – Andohor

From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with it’s partners, the European Union (EU) and International Labour Organization (ILO) have commenced reviews of the National Social Register (NSR) as well as federal and state-level Social Protection Policies to enable them cater adequately for the poor and vulnerable populations in four states of the Federation.

Recall that UNICEF, with funding from the European Union (EU) and in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is implementing the Supporting Sustainable Social Protection System in Nigeria (SUSI) project in four states of Nigeria in which Benue state is a beneficiary in addition to Abia, Oyo and Sokoto
states.

The UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Enugu, Mrs. Juliet Chiluwe
who spoke to newsmen in Makurdi during the stakeholders engagement review meeting said through the support, UNICEF has engaged the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) to
conduct the two reviews.

According to her, the main objectives are to conduct a comprehensive assessment of Nigeria’s NSR, with the ultimate goal of expanding coverage, accuracy and efficiency in identifying and supporting Nigeria’s poor and vulnerable. These includes displaced persons due to conflict or natural disasters like flood, poor people, People With Disabilities (PWDs) women and children.

“This is aimed towards building a more resilient and inclusive social protection systems in Nigeria and the project states. This process will strengthen the social protection system of the state and enhance service delivery to poor and vulnerable people in the state including the 75% of the Benue State population which are multidimensionally, and for the Internally Displaced populations in the state.

She said it also aimed at conducting a comprehensive assessment of the National Social Protection Policy and state-level policies to support the Government of Nigeria and its partners in strengthening national and subnational social protection systems, ensuring they are more inclusive, equitable, responsive to
shocks, and tailored to the needs of poor and vulnerable populations, especially children.

Chiluwe appreciated the European Union, their partners and the state Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia for the continued collaboration and providing an enabling environment for strategic partnerships for the implementation of the EU funded project, and all stakeholders for their continued effort towards building a responsive and sustainable social protection system in Benue.

A representative of EPRI, Catherina Bollig, said UNICEF has hired their institute Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) to review the state level protection policy as well as the national social register to make sure that both policies can be implemented adequately, that they can address the challenges that may arise in the implementation process.

She said the reviews will ultimately make sure that the National Social Register can actually be used in the state for the targeted social protection programs noting that in the coming days EPRI will do individual interviews with stakeholders in the different Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state to get their detailed view on the records.

Also speaking, the Director General (DG) Budget and Planning Commission, Jerome Andohor said Benue is a pilot state because the household indicators are not looking too descent adding “We have about 32.9 percent in terms of poverty. It’s not too good a statistics. In the country as a whole we have about 133 million multidimensionally poor individuals.

“In Benue we have about 1.7 million individuals on the social register and that is about 496,000 Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHs).”

“Benue is key because we are the food basket of the nation. It means that if we leave that much number of people in poverty, it is going to affect the country as a whole. That is why they are in Benue. They want to review the policies and social register to ensure that they are implementable, in tandem and alignment with the national policies and register.”