SUNRISE NEWS, Lagos, Aug 18, 2020 Lagos State has captured 129, 568 poor and vulnerable households (PVHHs), and 485,791 poorest of the poor individuals in the National Social Register (NSR), the Lagos State Operations Coordinating Unit (LASOCU) said yesterday.
This formed part of the takeaways at the flagging off of the collation of data of the poor and vulnerable people, in four local government and 12 LCDAs at the Ikorodu Division with the training of 63 Community-Based Targeting Teams (CBTT) officers.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget Mrs Abiola Ligali, who flagged off the exercise at the AI Royal Hotel and Suites, Ikorodu, said the training would help foster social cohesion, reduce poverty by bridging the gap between the rich and poor by encouraging transfers to the poorest of the poor in the society.
She said the data, which has been added to the National Social Register, was generated in five months, which took the state from its hitherto 34th position to 12th on the national ladder board, adding that the state with the generation of more data of the poor individuals and households, it would move to the topmost position by the end of the year.
Mrs Ligali, who was represented by the Assistant Director/Special Assistant to the Permanent Secretary Mr Aderemi Olajide, said the training is on the heels of the approval by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the extension of the Social Register for the Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs) to four of the old Local Governments of Ikorodu, Ajeromi, Mainland and Alimosho, and 12 LCDAs including Ikorodu North LCDA, Ikorodu West LCDA, Igbogbo LCDA, Ijede LCDA and Imota LCDA, (for the Ikorodu Division), Ifelodun LCDA, (for Ajeromi Division), Yaba LCDA, (for Lagos Mainland) and Ipaja-Ayobo, Egbe-Idimu, Agbado-Oke-Odo and Mosan Okunola LCDAs for (Alimosho Division).
Mrs Ligali urged the trainees to ensure the data collated from their various areas are community driven adding that the register so developed would be submitted to the Federal Government for incorporation into the National Social Register (NSR) ion ; the objective is to enroll the poorest of the poor households in the state in the National Social Register with a view of ensuring that the benefits get to the down trodden.
Earlier, the LASOCU’s Director Mrs Oluwakemi Adedeji said the Unit’s main objective is to generate a state-wide Single Social Register of poor and Vulnerable Households (LSSR) which would be merged with that of other states to generate the National Social Register (NSR).
She added that the Unit has registered 129, 568 poor and vulnerable households (PVHHs), and 485,791 poorest of the poor individuals, swiftly moving the state from number 34 to number 12 on the National Social Register ladder board within five months.
Mrs Adedeji commended Governor Sanwo-Olu and the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget Mr Samuel Egube for their commitment in ensuring that no single poor and vulnerable persons or households is left out in the social register.
The LASOCU chief said the generation of a single social register of the poor would ensure that government’s intervention gets to the targeted people without any interference as it was usually the case when politicians, community leaders and other stakeholders infiltrate such data with cronies thereby distorting the validity of the document.
She said the SRPVPH could be mined by the government and especially local and international Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) for target interventions aimed at poverty reduction, eradication and empowerments aimed at lifting the poor in the society.
She charged all officers being trained for the exercise to be transparent in the discharge of their responsibility because its outcomes would form the basis of several interventions aimed at empowering the poor.
Chairman Igbogbo Bayeku LCDA Olusesan Dainni commended the state government for expanding the social net to capture more poor and vulnerable households and poor persons.
He said the initiative would help the government generate a more reliable data base on the vulnerable households in the state for the purposes of ensuring that all government interventions get to the target audience.
He therefore charged the CBTT enumerators to be transparent and assist the government in generating credible data in poor communities.