By Sani Idris
The Kaduna State Government on Tuesday restated its commitment to social protection for its citizens, while working towards establishing an agency and trust fund to actualize the policy.
The Focal Person, Kaduna Social Investment Office (KADSIO), Mrs Saude Atoyebi, made the commitment while speaking at a one-day citizens engagement on the Kaduna State draft social security bill.
The engagement was organised by Civil Society Open Government Partnership (OGP) Technical Working Group (CS-TWG) on social protection, in collaboration with KADSIO and Ministry of Justice.
The government had in 2016, subscribed to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), to entrench its commitment towards promoting fiscal responsibility, access to information and citizens’ engagement.
Atoyebi, represented by Mrs Rebecca Padonu, Special Assistant to Governor Nasir El-rufai on Social Investment Programmes, said the state government in 2021, developed its second Action Plan (2021 – 2023) hinged on five commitment areas of the OGP.
She said establishment of an agency for protection and a social security trust fund, which were part of the OGP action plan, could be made possible through the Social Security Bill.
She noted that the goal of the Social Security Bill was to establish and concretise the social protection system, to care for the poor and vulnerable people through targeted benefits embedded across programmes and schemes.
“A draft of the SP bill had been in existence, predating the SP policy itself; this reveals that the Kaduna State Government has always shown commitment in the area of SP, “Atoyebi said.
She, however, said that it became expedient to start on a new note, based on the need to thoroughly capture the essence of the SP policy to include setting up of the trust fund, which the initial draft didn’t capture.
Atoyebi explained that Gov El-Rufai gave directives that the SP bill should harmonize all SP programmes for the formal and informal sectors of the state.
“He specifically directed that the bill should have provisions that establish the agency and define its powers.”
It should “then incorporate pensions, contributory health insurance, the proposed SP implementation programmes and other SP interventions under the purview of the agency.
“Interestingly, January this year, the Social Security Bill was approved by the State Executive Council for forwarding to the State House of Assembly”, Atoyebi said.
The Focal Person noted that having such kind of engagement would deepen understanding of the bill and further strengthen SP in Kaduna State.
Earlier, Citizens’ Co-chair, OGP Technical Working Group on SP, Mr Philip Yatai, said objectives of the engagement was to provide citizens the opportunity to participate in the development of the bill for ownership in line with the OGP principle of co-creation.
He added it was to provide a platform for citizens’ accountability groups to engage the draft bill, make
observations and seek clarifications where necessary.
Yatai also said the engagement was to create awareness on the provisions of the bill among civil society organisations,
to clearly understand the role of every stakeholder particularly in the implementation of the bill, if passed and signed into law.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that government MDAs and other stakeholders such as Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PEARL), attended the event.(NAN)
