By Femi Oyelola
It was an celebration galore among citizens especially the poor and vulnerable as well as the civil society organizations (CSOs) in Kaduna state as the 9th House of Assembly passed the State Social Security Bill as one of the six bills to wrap up its sitting on 6th of June, 2023.
Reacting to the passage of the bill, the Kaduna Social Protection Accountability Coalition (KADSPAC) commended stakeholders and the State House of Assembly for the passage of the bill into law, saying there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for the poor and vulnerable groups
Chairman of KADSPAC, Ms Jessica Bartholomew, while speaking to our reporter noted that the social security bill when signed into law would put in place an agency where all social protection activities and programmes are coordinated for effective accountability.
According to her KADSPAC alongside other partners has advocated for the development of the social security bill to ensure it scaled through legislation
She added that the coalition has also worked with the State in ensuring that social protection interventions are accountable and transparent, which led to some of the successes that are seen presently.
Ms. Bartholomew stressed that the coalition over the years worked with community champions in tracking social protection interventions, not only national social protection programmes but also state-owned programmes.
“We look forward to an implementation or operational plan to be approved timely so that the poor and vulnerable residents of Kaduna can access SP interventions that will help cushion the current economic crisis faced in their households”, she said.
But for Mr. Yusuf Goje, a citizen activist, it is not yet Uhuru on the passage of the bill, even though the bill provides legal framework for better coordination, institutional synergy, effective implementation, adequate funding and accountability of tailored social protection programmes in the State and will enable Social-Protection-Under-One-Roof with a coordinating Agency charged with the responsibility of ensuring the poor are removed from poverty as well as the vulnerable groups are socially protected, yet it is not time to click the champagne glasses.
He observed that the state is currently in dire straits with 70 % incidence of multidimensional poverty where about 8.04 million residents are said to be multidimensional poor; and also has a 43% income poverty rate.
The activist disclosed that Kaduna is among four states that are home to one quarter of the 22.85 million poor children under five in Nigeria and this is made worse by the rising unemployment and underemployment rate in the state, 44.3% and 22.6% respectively, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
With the above data, Goje said it is not yet Uhuru, as the assent of the Governor, Senator Uba Sani, is what is being awaited for the law to be effective as well as the establishment of the coordinating Agency and adequate financing through the trust fund.
He observed that it is now time for the governor to fulfil his social contract with residents of Kaduna State as captured in his SUSTAIN blueprint where the he made a categorical commitment to strengthen social welfare programmes and pro-poor interventions.
The blueprint states – “We will deepen KDSG programmes designed to cater to the interests and needs of women, youths and the vulnerable.
“We will further empower the agency assigned with the mandate of social development and human services to champion and help integrate pro-poor interventions across government.”
Goje opined that all that is now expected of the Governor is to sign the law, establish the agency and ensure adequate financing of social protection programmes in the state.
The citizen activist, however, stressed that it is worthy of note that the last administration through the State Social Investment Office developed and approved the Kaduna Social Protection Policy and also, an implementation plan and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Framework were developed, which are yet to be approved.
He said the State Operations Coordinating Office (SOCO), the State Social Register (SSR) now has a total of 1,056,622 Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs).
“This is made up of 3,953,809 individuals. Similarly, during the last administration, the State Executive Council adopted the SSR as the primary data source for PVHHs.
“The register is currently being used by the Federal and State governments as well as organizations and philanthropists to mine data to provide interventions for targeted poor and vulnerable groups.
The progress recorded could not have been achieved without the support of Save The Children International, Kaduna Social Protection Accountability Coalition (KADSPAC) and Open Government Partnership (OGP) Technical Working Group on Social Inclusion, among others. Notwithstanding the progress made, it has also revealed challenges such as weak coordination, low public awareness, inadequate funding/poor cash-backing of budget releases, coverage, overdependence of Federal government interventions, among others.
Goje is hopeful that the Social Security law passed by the State Assembly and awaiting the assent of the Governor will be key to addressing the above-mentioned challenges.
He therefore appealed to the Governor, to demonstrate his commitment to pro-poor issues by approving the draft implementation plan and mandate that the ongoing 2024 budget formulation should have an allocation of not less than five percent of the total budget to social protection programmes.
Goje added that as an active citizen, he and other CSOs concerned about Social Security their commitment to human capital development includes a focus on social welfare and liberating empowerment through dedicated funds for women and youths, robust social investment programmes for vulnerable persons and extensive pro-poor interventions.”
Similarly, Yakubu Ibrahim of Kaduna State University (KASU) said until all frameworks are in place and Gov Uba Sani assents to the bill, it is not yet celebration time after the passage of the Social Security bill.
With the fuel subsidy removal,, there is no doubt poor and vulnerable face a crisis because this is something that is sudden, and the passage of the Social Security Bill will be of no relevant to them; except that Gov Uba Sani promised to come with very important and robust palliative arrangements for them
According to him he believes the government cannot do that without the support and cooperation of the labour leaders, and he os said to have had a very sincere discussion with them where all parties gave their positions and he is happy with the Labour leaders inputs.
“So, we have decided to quickly announce a committee comprising the labour leaders and government officials to fashion out a kind of arrangement, where we will reach out to the down-trodden by way of supporting them with palliatives. So, the labour leaders are the ones that are close to the people, know the concerns of the people and the kind of palliative we need to come up with.” he said
All said and done the task to ensure that the poor and vulnerable in state heave a sigh of relief with the passage of the Social Security bill is for Governor Uba Sani to do the needful by speedy assent to the bill for its immediate implementation.
