FG Plans New Social Protection Policy
From Cletus Akwaya in Abuja
A new social protection strategy aimed at reducing risks and vulnerability of the poor in the country is being worked out by the Federal Government.
Already, a draft Social Protection Policy Note prepared by the National Social Protection Committee (NSPC) of the Natio-nal Planning Commission (NPC) will soon be approved by the Federal Government.
The draft was the kernel of a national consultative workshop yesterday in Abuja attended by academics, representatives of Federal Ministries and Depart-ments, State Governments and civil society organisations.
The workshop was organized by the NPC, with support from the World Bank and coordinated by a firm of management consultants, First Management Consultants Limited. It is the last in the series of the consultative processes on the draft and comes after zonal workshops held in Kaduna, Ibadan and Enugu. The draft was also presented to a forum organised by the World Bank in Helsinki, Finland in June to obtain views of the international community ahead of final production of the policy.
Economic Adviser to the President, Prof. Ode Ojowu, who declared the workshop open explained that Social Protection Policy involves strategies to deal with the "dynamic issues of risk and vulnerability that make the poor to get poorer and the non- poor to become poor."
"It consists of a set of public measures that support society's poorest and most vulnerable members and help individuals, households and communities better manage risks. It includes policies that provide social safety nets, social funds, labour market interventions and social insurance including pensions," he said.
Ojowu who spoke through the Permanent Secretary in the Commission, Dr. Muazu Baban-gida Aliyu, said the Federal Government had since 2001, encouraged the development of a social protection strategy for Nigeria with the establishment of a steering committee chaired by the NPC.
He assured that the new social protection policy being debated would on approval, be incorporated in the implementation mechanism of the Federal Government's reform programme, National Economic Empowerment and Develop-ment Strategy (NEEDS) as well as other government policies and programmes.
Lead Economist at the World Bank Country Office in Nigeria, Dr. Victoria Kwakwa, identified seven key risks and vulnerable challenges in Nigeria as "dependence on rain fed agriculture and therefore the vulnerability of the rural sector and especially small- scale farmers to some degree of unpredictability in production and incomes; dependence on oil and hence the volatility in government revenues and overall growth."
Others include " growing risk of illness from HIV/AIDS- current prevalence rate of 5.0 per cent is still an explosion point and ditto for tuberciulo and malaria; the growing problem of social(religious and ethnic) conflict; various forms of natural disasters; growing difficulties in pensions management leading to old age poverty and destitution and economic downturn leading to loss of jobs, street kids, crime, etc."
Kwakwa whose paper was presented by Dr. Foluso Okunmadewa, a consultant to the World Bank, said one way to reduce vulnerability of poor people was to achieve speedy economic growth said the rise in incomes would increase ability to manage risks.
"The policy response to vulnerability must be aimed at helping poor people manage risk better by reducing and mitigating risk and lessening the impact of shocks," he added.
Managing Director of First Management Consultants, Dr. Zakari Buba regretted the high poverty level in the country despite the various poverty reduction strategies evolved over the years, saying the workshop was necessary to devise better ways of finding protection for the poor in the country who constitute about 90 million of Nigeria's estimated 130 million population.
|
