FG enrolls 15.5m persons in National Social Register

By Agency Reporter

The Federal Government has enrolled over 15 million persons in the National Social Register (NSR) to fast track implementation of the Social Investment Programme.

Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, stated this during the presentation of food items donated to Nigeria by the ECOWAS Commission, on Saturday in Kano.

Umar-Faroouq said: “It is worthy to state that at the onset of the pandemic, the National Social Register (NSR) contained data of over 2.6 million poor and vulnerable households, representing over 11 million individuals in the 34 States and the FCT.

“With the accelerated registration and rapid expansion, the NSR has as at June 30, grown to 3.7 million, equivalent to 15.5 million individuals in the 36 states and FCT.”

She said the expanded register would facilitate distribution of the donated food items to the targeted population aimed at mitigating the risk of food insecurity in the country.

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The minister noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the ministry in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, to carry out various interventions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on the vulnerable and poor families.

Umar-Farouq disclosed that the ministry had so far distributed 70,000 tonnes of food palliative to the most vulnerable in society.

She listed the beneficiaries to include refugees; Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs), older persons, trafficked victims, orphans, poor and other Persons of Concern.

Umar-Farouq listed other palliatives distributed to the vulnerable populations to include payment of four months stipends to beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer; loans to traders and market women.

Other palliative include take-home food rations for households of children enrolled in the National Home -Grown School Feeding Programme consisting of rice, beans, vegetable oil, palm oil, tomato paste, eggs and salt.

(NAN)