What you need to know about Nigeria’s social register

There has been a lot of outcry about the federal government’s proposed 8,000 cash transfer meant to serve as a palliative for the ongoing economic reforms especially the outright and eventual cancellation of payment of subsidies to petrol marketers in the country.

The government had planned to reach out to 12 million vulnerable households through the National Social Register (NSR) with the said sum for six months.

The National Social Register is a repository of information about potential beneficiaries for multiple social assistance programs that share a common population of interest, but not necessarily the same eligibility approach.

The cash transfer will be sourced from the N500 billion approved by parliament to cushion the pain occasioned by the end of the subsidy regime, alongside the $800 million to secured from the World Bank for the National Social Safety Net programme.

However, the government is currently taking a backseat to review the policy. This is in line with a directive from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a consideration to the divergent views of many Nigerians, “who have queried the adequacy of the measure to soften the effect of fuel subsidy removal”, according to the special adviser special duties, communication and strategy Dele Alake.

Most importantly, Nigerians need to know how beneficial and far-reaching this cash transfers are for the real vulnerable households across Nigeria’s local communities.

Here is how to check if you are a beneficiary

Execution: The cash transfer will be facilitated by the National Social Safety Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO) using the National Social Register.

How did the government build the register?

To enhance the integrity and reliability of the NSR and ensure that resources go to the intended beneficiaries, four targeting approaches are utilized in building the National Social Registry (NSR) of poor and vulnerable households (PVHHs) in the country, namely;

• Geographic

After reaching a consensus on the use of the Poverty Map (or other poverty measurement criteria) with the participating state, Local Government Areas (LGAs) are ranked based on their poverty status. Coverage is carried out in three phases, starting with 30% poorest LGAs and then subsequently 50% and 20% poorest LGAs in a State to achieve saturation.

• Community Ranking

In this targeting approach, the most deprived communities and households are given priority in terms of entry and coverage in a Local Government. The availability or otherwise of some basic amenities and infrastructures are used to provide a scientific basis for the poverty incidence ranking and subsequent selection of communities.

• Community-Based Targeting (CBT)

This is a process of devolving responsibilities of decision-making as it relates to the identification of poor and vulnerable households (PVHH) to community members. Using the agreed criteria, the community members identify households they consider poor and vulnerable in their community. This activity is facilitated by the Community–Based Targeting Team (CBTT) which comprises of Targeting Officers and Enumerators. The Targeting Officers are responsible for facilitating the identification of PVHHs in the community while the Enumerators are responsible for data capture of the identified PVHH.

• Proxy Mean Testing (PMT)

Information on identified PVHHs characteristics captured by the Enumerators correlated with welfare levels is used in a formal algorithm to proxy household income, welfare or need. This makes it possible for PVHHs in a community to be ranked based on poverty status into deciles. PVHHs that are between one to six deciles are considered eligible to be in the National Beneficiary Register (NBR) which is a register used for Cash Transfer in the Country.

Hence, the question to ask yourself:

Was I enumerated during the capturing exercise?

Is my community (where I live) among those ranked into deciles based on poverty status?