BY DENNIS UDOMA, Uyo
Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Economic Development, Mr. Emem Bob has said, the State Government is reaching out to about 600, 000 households captured in its social register in the State for various poverty intervention programmes to ameliorate thier economic hardship.
This is against the backdrop of complaints by a section of the people of the State that, government is using beneficiaries backdoor to implement the much touted welfare programme.
The Commissioner, Mr. Bob while fielding questions at a media briefing in Uyo on Monday tagged, ARISE Score Card with the theme “Food Sufficiency and Security: The Intervention and Sustainability Strategy of Governor Umo Eno” said, the State social register has increased to 2.3 million people, as government is reaching out to the vulnerable 600 poor households in the State through the social register.
According to him, “the social register is well- structured in such a way that, we have broken the villages, wards and local local governments. These make up the state social register and the total number of people we have in the social register is 2.3m people.
“When you talk about households, we have about 600,000 households in the social register and that is what we have been using for various interventions in the state”.
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 that Governor, Umo Eno only ordered that it should be expanded to accommodate those who have fallen under the poverty line.
“How people are selected for the social register is very clear and transparent process in the sense that, there is what we called Community Based Targeting.
“Don’t forget that anything that involves the World Bank is very transparent; they are thorough. Community Based Targeting is what was used for 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 have staffers across the local government areas. They go to the villages to meet with village heads to pick these people”.
Also speaking, Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Offiong Ofor said the state government had put in place lots of intervention programmes to boast food production and reduce prices of food stuffs in the state.
She called on the people to heed the governor’s call and return to farming by forming themselves into corporative societies for easy accessibility.
“Food sustainability remains the priority of Governor Umo Eno’s administration. The first thing is that, the Ministry of Agriculture merged with the Ministry of Rural Development which has a component of cooporatives. He was deliberate in doing this because, the corporatives system is the system that is driving food productivity anywhere in the world”.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Ini Ememobong, while setting the tone for the briefing expressed appreciation to the governor for the various intervention programmes of government he introduced to address economic hardship in the state.
