Stakeholders advocate increased investment in social protection

Stakeholders in the social protection sector have demanded increase in investments in the sector.

The stakeholders held that increased investment in the sector is a sure way to improving the living standard of the citizenry.

The stakeholders drawn from the five states of Imo, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano and Zamfara at their meeting said investment in the social sector will also impact positively on the economic fortunes of the country.

At the meeting, there were inputs from organisations that have invested in different social protection programmes like the; Action Aid Against Hunger, UK Aid, Child Development Social Programme and Save The Children.

Representatives of the state governments and the support organisations reviewed the role of social protection interventions in past years and were unanimous that the impact was enormous on the less privileged, but noted that there are still miles to cover to reach the desired target.

The Deputy Governor of Jigawa State said social protection requires sharing of experiences, especially in the area of cash transfer and identification of the poor.

He said the team from the five states should share ideas and experiences, saying together, they will achieve better results.

He said Jigawa is committed to implementing social protection programmes and will, next year, start implementing the cash transfer programme to improve the lives of the poor and vulnerable

He said this is “to ensure that the less privileged are carried along and they benefit from government programmes’’.

Jigawa State Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Babangida Umar, who gave an address at the meeting, said as progress is being recorded in social protection programmes, special attention must be given to the indices that have touched on the wellbeing of the people.

He said much as the development indicators are still worrisome as the number of people living below the poverty line and who are malnourished are quite high, the response to such initiatives is encouraging.

He said the Jigawa State Government has a programme development framework in place to provide clearly defined road maps to achieve the goal of bringing more people out of poverty.

“I believe all states should implement programmes aimed improving the lot of the people,” he said.