The minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Betta Edu, on Friday, during an interview with Channels Television, explained that the verification of the national social register is ongoing to categorise better and identify Nigerians in dire need of aid.
It would be recalled that the existing social register, compiled under the past administration, has been criticised in certain quarters for lacking credibility.
Meanwhile, the National Economic Council (NEC), chaired by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, had resolved to update the register. At the same time, it was agreed that states should develop their records using formal and informal means.
The minister said that her ministry would engage with state governors and stakeholders in the local governments to verify and expand the register.
She said, “The first thing we start almost immediately is verifying the social register.”
“In a couple of weeks, we have been going back and forth with the governors’ forum and several interested parties, saying ‘the register is okay and not okay. The impoverished people are not on the list.
“We are going first to carry out a complete verification of the social register to ensure that indeed it is the poorest of the poor, those who deserve to be on that list, that are on that list.
“We are going to verify and update the social register and work with the governors so that they can own it.
“We are going to work with those at the local governments so they can own it.
“And we can boldly say we know these people; these are the poorest of the poor, and whatever intervention is coming, these people truly deserve it.”
The social register was created for cash transfers and other social investment programmes.
