The Sokoto State Government and UNICEF have launched an initiative to expand the Social Register, a crucial document providing credible and transparent data for social protection programs.

The State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Abubakar Muhammad Zayyana, emphasised that the Social Register aims to reduce social injustice, exclusion, and insecurity while improving human capital development.

This is in addition to providing a data-driven policy for informed planning decisions, target beneficiaries and assess impact

It further improves access to basic services, including education, nutrition, health, and sanitation.

The Chief of UNICEF‘s Sokoto Field Office, Mr Michael Juma, represented by Mr Isah Ibrahim, a Social Policy Specialist, highlighted the new multidimensional social register approach.

This approach aims to integrate deprived households into basic services and create a single database of poor and vulnerable households.

The Social Policy Specialist appealed to local government teams to cooperate with enumerators and other teams to successfully expand the social register, targeting 250,000 households across the state.

The Chairman of Shagari Local Government, Barrister Maidawa Kajiji, praised the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and UNICEF for introducing social protection programs.

The District Head of Gagi, Alhaji Sani Umar Jabbi, representing Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar, called on participants to support the initiative.