Uche Usim, Abuja
The Acting National Coordinator, Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO), Hajara Sami on Wednesday disclosed that the scheme, in meeting up with the development objectives has successfully developed a Single Register (SR) of poor and vulnerable in 15 participating states with a total of 580,326 households and 2,735,406 individuals, while the register for internally displaced persons (IDPs) are 167,491 households and 926,291 individuals.
Sami made the disclosure in Abuja at the social protection practitioners and academics dialogue themed; social protection: effective strategy for lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
She noted that, under public workfare, 335,709 beneficiaries were enrolled and 323,709 paid.
“Under Skills for Job (S4J) 3,593 have graduated and 28,081 are deployed as interns. Under Targeted Grant Transfer for IDPs 109,684 paid as at December 2019. Special Grant Transfer (SGT) for aged and physical challenged, 84,843 paid out of 99,157 enrolled beneficiaries.
“Adoption of CBT as targeting mechanism by Federal Government and use as basis for selecting beneficiaries under the National Cash Transfer programme”, she said.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Programme, Mrs. Maryam Uwais said that the time has come for the government to build a system that is inclusive, sustainable, comprehensive and part of the broader development of agenda and vision for the country.
”For most Nigerians, a robust social protection system helps those left behind to get back on their feet, provide them with the opportunity to access essential services such as education, health care, is the foundation to all efforts , given the constitutional, legal, regulatory and administrative mandate at Federal, States and Local government levels, Nigeria requires an agency that engages, and coordinates all efforts to achieve better results for the citizens”.
She said, regrettably, that social protection was not a reality for most of the world population stressing, ”In 2016, 55 percent, as many as 4 billion people, were not covered by any social protection cash benefits; with significant variations across regions as realities range from 87 percent without coverage in sub-Saharan Africa to 14 percent in Europe and Northern America”.
In his remarks, the National Coordinator, Community and Social Development Project (CSDP), Dr. Abdulkarim Obaje said that the project has approved 14,477 projects in 5,041 communities and over 11,000 have been completed as they are spread across water, education, health, rural electrification, transport, among others; especially in the north east.
Also speaking at the event, Social Protection Practitioners sought for a robust social protection policy that will help tackle vulnerability, poverty and ensure inclusive growth among Nigerians.
The practitioners also called on government at all levels to move away from programmes to systems that address and operationalize the country’s social protection policy, a system that is positioned to address and respond to unpredictable shocks, a system that is politically and financially sustainable.