Federal Govt flags off National Social Register verification in Lagos

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, has flagged off the verification of the National Social Register (NSR) in Lagos state.

Some of the communities where the exercise was carried out are; Oko Agbon, Adogbo, Migbewhe, Makoko, Sogunro, and Apollo in Lagos State.

The exercise, which commenced simultaneously across the country in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is expected to last for three weeks.

The minister promised to get Nigerians a social register with integrity.

Edu, who spoke after she carried out door-to-door verification of the register, said the federal government was ready to put money into the hands of Nigerians to assist them in their businesses, education of their children, livelihood, and job creation.

This is contained in a statement on Monday, October 2, by the media aide to the minister, Rasheed Zubair.

The minister explained that the exercise was an integrity test as President Tinubu was desirous to touch the lives of the poor and change things for the better.

She said those who were captured would be checked to know if they deserved to be on the register or not, while areas that were left out would be covered.

Edu said: “Federal government is going to put money into the households in Nigerians to assist them in terms of their businesses, livelihood, education, to be able to pay fees for their children, improve access to social services, subsidize their daily transportation cost, give them spending power to provide for basic health care needs, job creation, etc.

“For us to do this, we need to verify the National Social Register, the President has approved that we go down to the grassroots and ensure that the National Social Register is a true reflection of truly poor people.

“We need to verify that people on the list live below one dollar 95 cents a day and are affected by multi-dimensional poverty and sincerely are those who need help; those who have no business being there should be removed those who need to be on the register should be included”.

She further stated: “We are doing both community targeting and geographical targeting, we have seen that certain areas of Oko Agbon, Adogbo, Migbewhe, Makoko, Sogunro, and Apollo villages have been covered by NSR, while certain areas have not been captured, we will capture them.

“The activities we will flag off here are being carried out across the country, working with states and communities. Our State Governors will chair the steering committee in the states while the Local Government Areas and Community Leaders will be involved to get NSR with Integrity.

“We want to ensure that those who will be getting the money are those who truly need it with zero political social or personal interference.”

The national coordinator of the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), Abdulaziz Danladi, said strengthening the social safety nets and social protection system in the country was a core strategy to help end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity.

He explained that the core mandate of NASSCO was to lay a strong foundation for rigorous and reliable evidence of poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria which the Minister is championing.