National social register developed by states, NASSCO replies NEC

The National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) says the country’s social register is an aggregation of state registers.

In a tweet on Friday, the office said the 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) “built the register”.

“The national social register is an aggregation of state registers built by each of the 36 states and the FCT,” NASSCO tweeted. 

“States build the register using a community-based targeting approach undertaken by targeting teams and enumerators engaged by states and overseen by their ministries of planning.

“NASSCO and the NBS Nigeria work collaboratively on a number of fronts around poverty, most notably on the national living standards survey (NLSS).”

The National Social Register is an aggregation of state registers built by each of the 36 states + FCT. States build the register using a Community Based Targeting approach undertaken by targeting teams & enumerators engaged by states & overseen by their ministries of planning.

— NASSCO Nigeria (@NasscoNigeria) July 21, 2023

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NASSCO’s position comes a day after the National Economic Council (NEC) faulted the nation’s social register while deliberating on palliative measures for Nigerians.

The NEC, presided over by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, resolved to dump the document compiled under former President Muhammadu Buhari, for lacking credibility.

Instead, the council proposed the implementation of a cash transfer programme for states based on their social registers and a cash reward policy for public servants for six months.

In 2016, the federal government established the national social investments programme (NSIP) to address short-term and long-term socio-economic imbalances and inequality.

The programme proposes a range of initiatives that focus on ensuring a more equitable distribution of resources to Nigeria’s vulnerable population.

For its take-off, the government had directed the immediate release of N25 billion.