The vexed issue of evolving a professionally designed and operated National Social Register, NSR, to help the most vulnerable elements of our society came up once again at a stakeholder forum in Lagos last week under the theme: “Advancing Social Protection Through the National Social Register, NSR”.
At the event, the National Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, NSIPA, Professor Badamasi Lawal, described the NSR as a “dynamic national asset that enables evidence-based planning, strategic targeting and effective service delivery ensuring that poor and vulnerable Nigerians are included in government interventions”. He said his organisation is committed to administering a social register aligned to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
This is exactly where the problem is! The so-called social register, which was started by the late Muhammadu Buhari administration, was heavily criticised as a tool for ethno-regional and political appeasement. It was run with almost zero accountability and opaque disbursement parameters. Even under the Tinubu regime, the programme is still viewed with great suspicion due to transparency issues.
Any time the Federal Government embarks on its so-called “cash transfers” it is perceived as another opportunity for political bonanza. This is why this newspaper has consistently criticised the manner in which the scheme has been operated with little evidential basis.
We need a social register that is not tied to any regime’s political agenda. We need a professionally-run Nigerian Social Register. To achieve this, NSIPA must be elevated to the professional credibility which the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, achieved under Dr Yemi Kale. Under that regime, the Bureau was generally perceived as a sound public sector organisation that spoke truth to power rather than operate as part of a politician’s fancy agenda.
A professionally designed social register, free from political patronage, ensures equitable resource allocation, targeting aid to those truly in need. It enhances transparency and reduces corruption and favouritism in welfare distribution.
Additionally, it enables data-driven policy making, allowing governments to address societal challenges effectively, prioritise vulnerable populations, and foster trust in public institutions through fair, merit-based access to social benefits.
We strongly believe that the bulk of the amount opaquely shared as “cash transfers” should rather be channelled to encouraging small businesses, creating employment and value rather than frittered away to unknown persons. We must approach our economic recovery efforts with the mindset of equipping the citizens to fish, rather than sharing fish to them.
However, we must also create social benefits for citizens who are obviously needy and at the bottom of the social pyramid. These include the physically and mentally-challenged, orphans and widows. As the economy improves, we can gradually move up the pyramid to include the unemployed and others. It must be shorn of politics and corruption-free!
We have a long way to a sound social register administration.
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