Percy Onyeka
On Saturday, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, flagged off the Federal Government’s verification of the National Social Register in Makoko, Lagos state.
The exercise will ensure that the federal government’s social register is accurate and captures the people who deserve to be on the register according to the minister.
Edu said she was in the community to flag off the Social Register verification for the Vulnerable People Living in the Makoko Area of the state.
She said: “We are here today in the Makoko area of Lagos state because President Bola Tinubu has asked us to come here and verify the National Social Register.
“The President desires to ensure that the social register is accurate and indeed captures the people that deserve to be on that register.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria is trying to put monies in the hands of Nigerians.
“This is to assist them in terms of their businesses, livelihood, job creation, of course, to help them afford basic things like sending their children to school and ensuring that they can access to quality health services.’’
“For us to do this, we need to verify the National Social Register.”
According to the minister, the president is determined to ensure that those on the national social register are truly poor and live under one dollar per day.
The president has approved that we go down to the grassroots and ensure that the national social register is a true reflection of people who are poor, who live under one dollar a day, and people who live in remote areas and areas that truly need help.
“Those who should not be on the register should be removed. Those who need to be on the register should be included.
“And so, we are taking this as one of the samples. We are doing both the community targeting and geographical targeting.
“This is our first sample and we have gone round and we have seen that certain aspects of the Makoko was covered under the national register.
“However, the last area that we came for was not reflected on the national social register and so, we will be coming back to do a targeted capturing of the people in this area,” Edu said.
She also said that the exercise would be carried out across the country to ensure that a National Social Register in Nigeria has integrity.
Techrectory with Agency Report.
