The National Assembly is scrutinising the National Social Register being used by the Federal Government for its Conditional Cash Transfer to vulnerable households across the country, The Nation learnt on Monday.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Special Duties, Senator Yusuf Yusuf, who disclosed this to reporters at an interview in Abuja, said the probe is meant to determine the authenticity of the social register and the makeup of those currently benefiting from the programme.
While the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Social Development and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, said there are 2.6million Nigerians in its social register eligible for Conditional Cash Transfer under the Social Investment Programme (SIP), President Muhammadu Buhari recently directed that additional one million households be added to the register.
Senator Yusuf said there are noticeable lapses in the register and the process of disbursement of palliatives to beneficiaries that need to be corrected.
He said: “Under the SIP, there are the households benefiting from the Conditional Cash Transfers.
“However, I’m not satisfied and to be honest, it is not an easy thing to do at this material time.
“The SIP has what they call a National Social Register. We are trying to scrutinise that register to find out really, who are they? How did they come about?
“We are told that the register was as a result of the definition by the World Bank indicating that they can use citizens of the various communities.
“I have done my own investigation too and I’m still doing it. There are certain lapses, a lot of lapses which we need to correct as time goes on.
“As I said, the COVID-19 has brought us into a new reality altogether, it is like a war and when you are at war front, there are certain things that even if they are doing them very well you have to look for new strategies on how to handle them.”
The lawmaker representing Taraba Central Senatorial District added that a lot of discussion is ongoing with all members of the National Assembly and also members of the state Houses of Assembly to make sure that more of the households are integrated, limited resources notwithstanding.
He said: “But as you know, resources are very limited so there is no way that the government can meet the palliatives of each and every household in this country. But we are talking about the vulnerable households and we are working towards it.
“You that know to get data in this country is not an easy thing and especially in this lockdown period, you have a lot of encumbrances.
“So, I think we are trying to do the best we can especially in the National Assembly to make sure we get the register and scrutinise the register and then look at the people that are actually beneficiaries, whether the beneficiaries are really people that ought to benefit, not people who are cornering resources in one way or the other. We are doing the scrutiny.”
On the controversy trailing the distribution of rice to some states by the Federal Government, Senator Yusuf said that since the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs insisted that they had a certificate telling them that the rice was in good condition, “the matter is between Customs and NAFDAC to tell Nigerians what has actually happened.”
