Akwa Ibom State Government has said that 600 households captured in the state Social Register will receive free food and other intervention programmes to ameliorate the suffering of the people in the prevailing food crisis across Nigeria.
The State Commissioner of Economic Development, Mr Emem Bob, disclosed this in Uyo yesterday while fielding questions from newsmen at a media briefing tagged ARISE Score Card with the theme ” Food Sufficiency and Security: The Intervention and Sustainability Strategy of Governor Umo Eno”
The Commissioner who was flanked by the Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Mr Ini Ememobong, Commissioner of Agriculture, Dr Offiong Offor and the chairman, Akwa Ibom Bulk Purchase Agency, Mr Dan Akpan said through the state Social Register has increased to 2.3m people, government is reaching out to the vulnerable poor through 600 households captured in the social register.
“The social register is well-structured, it’s structured in such a way that we have broken the villages, wards and local governments, these make up the state social register. The total number of people we have in the social register is 2.3m as individuals.
‘When you talk about households we have about 600 households in the social register and that is what we have been using for various interventions in the state’ Bob said.
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He explained that the process for selection into the social register is very clear and transparent, adding that the social register has been there for the past 8 years but Governor, Umo Eno, only ordered that it should be expanded to accommodate those who have fallen under the poverty line.
Don’t forget that anything that involves the World Bank is very transparent; they are thorough. Community Based Targeting is what was used for the social register and we have State Organizing Coordinating Units which works with the National Social Safety Nets Coordinator unit in Abuja.
“They work together and they have Staff across the local government. They go to villages, meet with village heads to pick these people”
However, the commissioner of Agriculture, Dr Offiong Ofor said the state government had put in place a lot of intervention programmes to boost food production and reduce the prices of food stuffs in the state.
He advised the people to return to farming and form cooperative societies for easy accessibility to credit facilities.
“The first thing is that the Ministry of Agriculture merged with the Ministry of Rural Development which also has a component of co-operatives,” he said.
