THE FEDERAL government says it has concluded plans to include more Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) into the National Social Register (NSR) of poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
A top source from the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction who pleaded anonymity told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
NAN recalled that the decision to accommodate more PWDs in the register came after six-years of intensive struggle by some civil society organisations and groups of persons with disabilities for government to see the need to include them due to their vulnerability.
According to the source, with this development, PWDs will now enjoy certain percent of every social intervention programme undertaken by the ministry.
It will also be recalled that, the federal government had earlier announced reservation of ten percent quota of its social intervention programmes to PWDs.
NAN reports that, the National Social Register is a database of poor and vulnerable households in Nigeria, created in 2016 by the Nigerian government in partnership with the World Bank.
The register is built using a combination of three targeting mechanisms: Geographic Targeting, Community Based Targeting and Proxy Means Test.
The objective of the NSR was to create a comprehensive database of indigent households in the country so as to assist government design, coordinate and integrate social safety-net programmes into social protection systems.
The goal was not just to help, but to create a lasting platform that empowers families and communities to overcome the daily challenges they face.
“Our minister, Prof. Nantewe Yilwatda, is currently working with other stakeholders to rejig the conditional cash transfers system by digitalising process to make more transparent.
“You know in the past, transparency and accountability was an issue in the disbursement of conditional cash transfers to poor and vulnerable Nigerians,” the source said.
Meanwhile, efforts by NAN to get the exact numbers of Persons with Disabilities that have been captured so far in the social register were unsuccessful.
NAN reports that, in January 2025, the President, Joint National Associations of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD), Mr Abdullahi Usman, presented demands of PWDs before the minister for consideration.
The demands included the inclusion of PWDs in all Poverty Alleviation Programmes of government.
“We have presented several demands to the minister to ensure that our members are included in all federal empowerment programmes being undertaken by the ministry.
“Because, the disability community faces many challenges,” Usman said. (NAN)
