Nigeria Has Highest Number Of Poor People Globally

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*…launches Social Protection Policy in partnership with Save the
Children

Kaduna state Governor Nasir El Rufai on Tuesday launched the
State Social Protection Policy, lamenting that, Nigeria has the
highest number of poor people among the countries of the world.

He however said that, his government will establish a Social
Protection Agency to ensure that all social protection programmes
are delivered in an integrated, inclusive and sustainable manner
that optimizes resource utilization and achieves high impact.

El Rufai said, that social register must be used in programmes
designed to assist the poor people, while Nigeria must drop the
idea of giving slots of assistance programmes to the rich and
powerful.

According to El Rufai, “Nigeria is going through trying times.
We have the largest number of poor people than any country in the
world. Yet, whenever a programme is designed to help the poor and
vulnerable, we resort to a slot mentality in which important people
are allocated slots instead of targeting those poor and vulnerable
that deserve it. This is unfortunate. We must move away from slot
mentality and use our social register to offer targeted support to
those that truly need it.

“I appeal to all my colleagues, the political elites to please
drop this slot mentality and use the social register, so that,
programmes targeting the vulnerable actually go to the poor and
vulnerable. When we think of the poor and vulnerable, we must all
remember that, the welfare of each one of us is bound up in the
welfare of all of us.”

Speaking on the Social Protection Agency, El Rufai said, “the
agency will utilize an Integrated Social Protection Management
Information System, which will serve as a data repository to ensure
that the poorest of the poor are prioritized in programme planning
and benefits.

“This will also ensure the effective monitoring and evaluation
of programme impacts on targeted poor and vulnerable residents of
the State,’’ he added.

The governor said that the, “Social Protection Policy will be
supported by a Social Protection Law. To ensure that Government
delivers on its promise, a well-articulated Implementation Plan and
Results Frame work have also been developed.

El-Rufai noted that government is aware of the enormous cost of
providing social protection coverage for the poor and vulnerable
but it will “seek to guarantee minimum social protection floors for
every poor and vulnerable person.

“For this purpose, the Kaduna State Government welcomes
partnership with all key stakeholders, donor agencies, private
individuals, NGOs, and CSOs, in the social protection space.”

El Rufai recalled that his administration has been anchored on
promoting equality of opportunity since he assumed office in
2015.

According to the governor, the government has ‘’focused on
expanding access to education and healthcare as the fulcrum of
human capital development.

“This government has made education in the state free and
compulsory for the first 12 years. We have also enacted the Child
Welfare and Protection Law. Our public healthcare system offers
free services for pregnant women and children younger than five
years,” he added.

He however commended the active support of Save The Children
International through their Child Grant Development Programme
(CDGP) in strengthening social protection in Kaduna State.

In his remarks at the launch of the programme, CDGP National
Programme Manager, Mr. Kayode Ajumobi said, Social Protection is
not only a powerful tool to address poverty, but is also widely
recognized as an important policy instrument to address economic,
social and political exclusion and vulnerability.

He said, as an organisation, Save the Children International, is
excited and celebrates with Governor El-Rufai and all the people of
Kaduna state on the laudable occasion, saying that, the Policy is a
clear demonstration of the Government’s political will and
unequivocal commitment to providing social protection for all its
citizens- especially its most vulnerable, poor and socially
excluded ones.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to be associated with this
epoch-making event, made possible through the generous support of
the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), formerly
DFID, via the CDGP-strengthening social protection systems
programme. CDGP has continued to provide technical support to the
Social Protection Steering Committee and Technical Working Group
throughout the policy development process.

“However, if the policy is not properly backed financially,
technically and structurally, the kind of change the policy would
bring about will be very much limited. Thus, we are all indeed very
encouraged by the State Government’s commitment of a minimum of one
percent of the State’s total Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), to
Social Protection commencing this year 2021 and the ongoing process
to develop and enact a state social protection law.

“However, to crown this remarkable achievement, Save the
Children, through the CDGP programme, would like to call the His
Excellency and indeed, the government of Kaduna state at all levels
to go a step further by: Legislating the state policy and with it,
establish the state social protection fund and the state social
protection agency as contained in the policy,” Ajumobi said.