From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Save the Children International (SCI) said on Monday that it is supporting stakeholders to develop operational guidelines for the State Operations Co-ordination Office (SOCU) for the sustainability of the social protection system at the state level.
The National Social Security Safety Nets Co-ordinating Office (NASSCO) coordinates the social protection system at the national level while SOCU does the same at the state level.
Staff of the SCI working on the Expanding Social Protection for Inclusive Development (ESPID) project, civil society, NASCO, and SOCUs from Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, and Zamfara states have converged in Kaduna to develop guidelines for the institutionalisation of SOCUs in Nigerian states to operationalise their social safety/social protection coordination mandate.
Examples of social protection investments or interventions include conditional cash transfer, health insurance, pension, palliative distribution, labour market intervention, scholarships, school feeding, fee waiver, and N-power among others.
Giving more insight into this development on the sideline of the event, Senior Officer, Policy and Stakeholder Engagement Advisor, ESPID, SCI, Mr. Yimave Terkura Gyanggyang said the journey of SOCUs started in 2021 with institutional capacity assessment of the SOCUs in Anambra, Benue, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Yobe, Kaduna, Kano, Zamfara, Jigawa, and Lagos.
“So this meeting is a follow-up on the recommendations of a consultant that was engaged and we are here basically to develop a process flow for institutionalising the SOCUs.
“The idea is to come up with a guideline that will speak to the activities that one should carry out if they want to institutionalise SOCU.
“We also need to come up with the structure that is, what we want the institutionalisation to be like.
“In other words, the whole idea is to bring up a process that will help in mainstreaming SOCUs into the civil service so that social protection investments/interventions can continue after a specific project”, he said.
Earlier, Social Protection Systems strengthening Specialist, SCI, Ruth Adzege said her organisation was in Kaduna to support the Nigerian government by way of putting together a system to institutionalise SOCUs.
“Also, we were able to bring together and support key stakeholders from social protection implementing ministries, departments, and agencies from Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, and Zamfara states for evidence dissemination and social protection financing”, she added.