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From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
A total of 680,888 poor and vulnerable households consisting of 2,656,993 individuals have been captured in the Kaduna State Social Register, Commissioner, Planning and Budget Commission (PBC), Abdullahi Dattijo said on Wednesday.
The Commissioner spoke at the one-day multisectoral meeting on the State Social Register (SSR) update with ministries, departments and agencies (MDA’s), civil society, development partners and the media, held at a hotel in Kaduna.
Represented by a Director in the Commission, the commissioner commended the pro-poor data generating desk, Kaduna State Operation Coordinating Unit (KADSOCU) for the delivery of its mandate, and the commitment of its staff at ensuring that the state has a robust social register of poor and vulnerable households for planning and decision-making in the state.
‘As of today, a total of 680,888 poor and vulnerable households, consisting of 2,656,993 individuals has been generated and open for mining by all interested organisations and individuals.
‘Worthy of mention is the mining of data of women in the social register, who benefitted from the Kaduna State Women Empowerment Fund (KADSWEF 3.0) that was flagged off on Tuesday by Governor Nasir El-Rufai,’ he said.
The commissioner noted that unlike in the past where delivery of social safety nets to targeted persons was characterised by several challenges due to the unavailability of comprehensive data which government could make informed and evidence-based decisions, the social register is now helping to put a figure to pro-poor interventions across the 23 local government areas of the state.
‘Although well-intentioned and sometimes birthed from the sincere effort of the government to respond to the growing socio-economic challenges of the poor and vulnerable persons in the society, lack of data had always made the delivery of social interventions a far cry from its best outlook as far global best standards is concerned,’ Dattijo explained.
He however pledge the state government’s commitment to ensure that all interventions targeted at poor and vulnerable persons in the state are delivered inclusively and transparently.
There were goodwill messages from the representatives of the Kaduna Social Investment Office (KADSIO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children International (SCI).
Kaduna State had In 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Government to participate in the National Social Safety Nets Programme (NASSP), a move that led to the establishment of the State Social Register (SSR) coordinated in the State by the Kaduna State Operations Coordinating Unit (KADSOCU)
