Ondo State Government has announced that it had captured 161,000 individuals from Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs), on its Social Register in the past two years.
Olaoluwa Bankole, the Coordinator of the Ondo State Operation Coordinating Unit (SOCU), made this known at a two-day re-refresher training for Community-based targeting team members and enumerators on Tuesday, in Akure.
The training is organized by the National Social-Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO), in collaboration with SOCU.
Bankole explained that the programme, the first of its kind in the state, begun about two years ago, had captured no fewer than 48,500 heads of households in the state.
He stated that the state was aiming to expand the scope of the programme to ensure a single register for all vulnerable households across the state’s 18 local council areas.
According to him, the captured and harmonized data would be forwarded to the NASSCO in Abuja for its social programmes for the state.
He added that it would also promote inclusiveness in the delivery of social protection interventions in the state.
The SOCU coordinator noted that the initiative had been mandated to reduce the number of vulnerable persons in society.
He disclosed that 10 participants were chosen and trained from each local government area in the state, to capture more people to the register, saying that all the locals should key into the programme and ameliorate the sufferings of the vulnerable in the state, as the government could not do it alone.
“This idea is not only used by the government alone. Locals can come to our office and ask for the register in helping their community and make our society better.”
In her remarks, Olubunmi Ademosun, the Special Adviser (SA), on Public and Intergovernmental Relations to the state Governor, said the register was about reaching out to the poor and the vulnerable in the society.
Ademosun said the government was trying to get closer to the citizens and make them enjoy the dividends of democracy, noting that the programme had been a huge success for the past two years.
