The Ekiti State Government has approved the expansion of its Social Register, a vital tool for identifying poor and vulnerable households eligible for various social interventions. The State Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning, and Performance Management, Niyi Adebayo, made this announcement on Wednesday at a sensitization meeting with local government chairmen and other stakeholders in Ado-Ekiti. The expansion aims to include additional households that have recently fallen into vulnerability, ensuring that all eligible individuals are considered for social assistance.
Since its inception in 2014, the register has captured 154,105 households and 581,003 individuals. It has facilitated programs such as job training, public work initiatives, EK-CARES, livelihood grants, and special grants for the elderly. Adebayo emphasized the role of local leaders—traditional rulers, market women, and councillors—in ensuring the inclusivity and neutrality of the expansion process. He urged the chairmen to support the Community Development Officers (CDOs) and enumerators who will be visiting communities to gather data.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning, and Performance Management, Sola Akinluyi, highlighted the significance of the social register, noting that it enables targeted social interventions. Akinluyi also commended Governor Biodun Oyebanji for the initiative, which marks the first expansion of the register funded entirely by the state government, without external support from the federal government or the World Bank.
Abiodun Ariyo, the Project Coordinator of the State Operation Coordinating Unit, explained that the Community-Based Targeting (CBT) exercise would be community-driven, with local members selecting the beneficiaries.
He called for the cooperation of the local government chairmen to ensure the security of the CDOs and enumerators in areas with security challenges. Ariyo also stressed the importance of including all eligible individuals, regardless of their indigene status, to promote community-wide economic development.
