World Bank gives $500 Mln lifeline to FG’s social protection scheme

The World Bank on Tuesday announced a 500-million dollars (about N99.5 billion) support for the Federal Government’s Social Protection Programme for Poor and Vulnerable Citizens. The bank’s Lead Specialist on Social Protection and Labour, Mr Foluso Okunmadewa, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the support was to assist the programme for successful implementation. He said that the decision of the government to prioritise support for the poor and vulnerable citizens in its 2016 budget was commendable. “ The World Bank commends the move by the government and will put in some programmes and assistance in addition to what is already on ground. “ We have a 500-million dollars support to social protection programme, 70 per cent of which will go to the cash transfer and will go directly to the poor,’’ he said. Meanwhile, a Cross Learning Conference to harvest ideas on implementing the scheme has told State Governments to cooperate with the Federal Government in implementing the social protection agenda. The conference was organised by the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) under the Office of the Vice-President on March 24. NASSCO provided guidance for the World Bank-supported Youth Employment and Social Support Operations in collaboration with the Child Development Grant Programme. The conference was organised as a cross-learning forum which brought social protection practitioners across the country to share experiences on the implementation of other Social Safety Net programmes. In a communiqué at the end of the conference, participants supported the ongoing effort to conclude the National Social Protection Policy, formulated by the ministry of budget and national planning. The communiqué stated that the social protection policy was anchored on protective, promotion and transformative measures that would promote and ensure sustainability of the programmes. Participants advocated the need to encourage and engage stakeholders in developing comprehensive and adaptive strategies to accommodate various socio-cultural diversities of the country. “There is need for close collaboration, harmonisation and coordination of policies and programme implementation among all tiers of government, Ministries Departments and Agencies and development partners. “The meeting emphasised the use of social capital and national research base to generate and sustain job opportunities in order to improve livelihoods. “The conference appreciated the need to balance social safety nets interventions in both rural and urban areas, especially, due to the growing poverty in the later.’’ The participants noted the need to guard against dependency on cash transfers while emphasising on transformative and supportive graduation into sustainable livelihoods. In addition, they recommended that all partners involved in social net intervention should align and draw their beneficiaries from the single register which had been established by the Federal Government. They noted that the single register of beneficiaries should enhance efficiency and effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation and guarantee cash transfer to the poorest of the poor. (NAN)