Discarding national social register is waste of time, resources, says group

The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has faulted the decision of the National Economic Council (NEC) to dump the social register compiled under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

TheCable had reported that the NEC, comprising the 36 state governors and led by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, had resolved to discard the national social register for “lacking credibility”.

The register, comprising names of vulnerable people and households across the country, was created for the purpose of cash transfer and other social investment programmes.

Countering NEC, the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) said the register is an aggregation of state registers.

Reacting to the development, David Ugolor, executive director, ANEEJ, in a statement on Monday, said states were involved in the creation of the register, adding that it is surprising that the register is now being perceived as the sole initiative of the federal government.

Ugolor said the World Bank and other development partners monitored the creation of the register.

He averred that allowing politicians to create a critical register “might compromise its integrity”.

“Development partners, philanthropists, and various groups have been using the national social register to implement several of their initiatives and schemes, in the knowledge that the integrity of that database has not been compromised,” the statement reads.

“We are deeply concerned because this is a success story of the use of returned assets coming from Nigeria which is already being shared as a positive model the world over.

“As a leading civil society organisation working on the issue of asset return in Nigeria, we cannot stand aloof and watch what we have collectively achieved as stakeholders in the Nigerian project being destroyed by people who are bent on playing politics with human lives.

“In view of the amount of funds, time, and effort invested in the development of the NSR, it would only be expedient for the state governors to at least interrogate the development and content of the NSR before embarking on a journey that is likely to cost a fortune.

“It is, therefore, our view that NEC should not encourage the reinventing of the wheel and the attendant waste of scarce public resources that would be expended in the needless re-enumeration that state governors may now wish to embark upon.

“Nigerians must continue to insist that while the NSR could be improved upon, it should be insulated from politics and favoritism through an open community-based approach.

“It does appear that there is a distrust of the content of the NSR because politicians were not involved in the process. This, unarguably was intentional, to ensure that the households identified are known and identified by persons living within their midst, as truly in need of support.

“The entire process has been heavily resourced and supported by development partners, which route has facilitated a database that is as authentic as is possible in our circumstances.

“The danger always exists that relying on the political actors to develop such a critical database might compromise its integrity, so those saddled with the responsibility at state and federal levels worked independently and assiduously to develop what is currently perceived as the largest social register in the world.”