BY OJO SAMSON AYOMIDE
Lagos State government in collaboration with the National Social Safety-Net Coordinating Office (NASSCO), has embarked on a three-day training of field personnel for an update of the National Social Register (NSR) employing the National Identification Number (NIN) for efficient delivery of social intervention purposes.
The opening of the exercise tagged: ‘Training on the integration of the NIN with the NSR update’, was held at the Dover Hotel, Ikeja, at the weekend.
According to the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Mrs Olayinka Ojo, the register would allow a unique identity to be assigned to beneficiaries on the Register to ensure social inclusion and transparency.
Noting that the Lagos State Single Social Register (LASSR) has 688,759 Poor and Vulnerable households and 2,681,507 individuals as of February, 2025, Mrs. Ojo highlighted the primary goals of the training exercise.
In her words, “The primary objectives of this training include but are not limited to certifying the trainees who are the front-end enrolment partners with NIMC in facilitating NIN enrolment and verification; align with the federal government’s goal of linking intervention beneficiaries to their unique identities, reducing double dipping, and promoting transparency. To promote digitalization and integration through enhanced identity management”.
The Permanent Secretary said that Lagos, being a sub-national, is strategically positioned for the initiative, which would ensure credibility to the Register, promote transparency, accountability, facilitate beneficiaries access to interventions and enhance tracking of both vulnerable households and government expenditure in the social protection space.
The State Coordinator, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Lagos, Mr. Olumide Aremu, stated that the Agency was not new to sharing data with other government parastatals and corporate bodies just as he stressed the impact of data harmonization for tracking and impact of interventions.
He said, “This helps the government to analyse and track the exact impact of programmes on the citizens. It will enable the government to go back and see what we are not doing right, what are we doing right, what are the exact benefits of the government programme – is it actually getting to the right people, what are the impacts of all these processes so that they can improve on it. This is not the first time there has been integration. We had with the banks and with immigration, which is still ongoing, with BVN and NIN”.
He explained the uniqueness of the exercise to include “being for the vulnerable, getting to the grassroots for data collection”, assuring that the process would be seamless with logistics of systems under constant checks and readiness of all the centres in all the local governments and LCDAs for easier integration.
In her presentation titled: “Harnessing the Power of Data for Social Inclusion”, the National Coordinator, National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), Mrs. Funmi Olotu emphasised the importance of engaging NIN enrollment instruments in collecting accurate records for the efficient delivery of social intervention to the populace.
Represented by Dr. Daniel Amba, Manager of the National Grievance Redress Mechanism (NGRM) said, “The use of NIMC devices for enrollment, Kobo Collect for data collection, and the subsequent updating of household information will ensure that we capture the correct data and provide the necessary support to those who need it most.
“The State Social Register (SSR) plays a vital role in our social safety-net programmes, serving as a single, unified database for targeting and interventions. By integrating the NIN into the social single register (SSR), we will enhance the accuracy and efficiency of our targeting mechanisms, ensuring that the most vulnerable households receive the support they need”, she said