TheCable

Betta Edu, minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, has flagged off the verification of names on the national social register in Lagos suburbs.

Speaking on Monday after a door-to-door verification of names on the register, Edu said the exercise has commenced across the country and would last for three weeks.

The national social register had earlier been rejected by the national economic council (NEC) for “lacking credibility”.

But Edu had promised to partner with states to verify all names on the register to reflect the citizens who are most vulnerable.

She said the verification has commenced in Oko Agbon, Adogbo, Migbewhe, Makoko, Sogunro and Apollo villages in Lagos state.

“Federal government is going to put money into the households in Nigeria to assist them in terms of their businesses, livelihood, education, to be able to pay fees for their children, improve access to social services, subsidize their daily transportation cost, give them spending power to provide for basic health care needs, job creation etc,” she said.

“For us to do this, we need to verify the national social register, the president has given approval that we should go down to the grassroots and ensure that the national social register is a true reflection of truly poor people.

“We need to verify that people on the list live below one dollar, 95 cents a day and are affected by multi-dimensional poverty and sincerely are those who need help; those who have no business being there should be removed. Those who need to be on the register should be included.

“We are doing both community targeting and geographical targeting, we have seen that certain areas of Makoko have been covered by NSR, and while certain areas have not been captured, we will capture them.

“The activities we will flag off here are being carried out across the country, working with states and communities.

“Our state governors will chair the steering committee at state while the local government areas and community leaders will be involved to get NSR with Integrity.

“We want to ensure that those who will be getting the money are those who truly need it with zero political social or personal interference.”

The minister added that the federal government is prepared to disburse money to support Nigerians in their livelihoods, education, and businesses and also create employment opportunities.