$1bn Empowerment Scheme: Nwifuru Targets 500,000 Ebonyi Households

…Flags off enumeration exercise, warns against data manipulation

By Uchenna Okeh, Abakaliki

Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, has initiated a process to capture 500,000 households across the state’s 13 local government areas in the State Social Register (SSR) and National Social Register (NSR) ahead of a proposed $1 billion social protection programme by the federal and state governments.

The exercise is aimed at identifying vulnerable households for possible inclusion in government empowerment initiatives designed to alleviate poverty, expand access to social interventions and improve the economic conditions of beneficiaries.

The governor announced the initiative during the official flag-off and training of over 1,000 enumerators for the expansion of the State Social Register and National Social Register in Ebonyi State, held at Remeritona Hotels and Suites, Abakaliki.

Represented by the Commissioner for Human Capital Development and Monitoring, Ann Aligwe, Nwifuru said the exercise would provide an opportunity to identify eligible households across communities and ensure that vulnerable residents were not excluded from government support programmes.

Aligwe said the state government had directed the relevant agencies and field personnel to intensify data collection across the 13 local government areas, with a target of capturing 500,000 households within two weeks.

She explained that the initiative followed concerns that many residents had yet to benefit from social intervention programmes despite the existence of earlier social registers used for government and development-partner interventions.

According to her, the governor directed the ministry and relevant stakeholders to work with the officials responsible for the social register and other community-level structures to ensure that fresh and accurate household data were collected across the state.

She described the exercise as a humanitarian initiative intended to expand the reach of social protection programmes and create opportunities for more residents to benefit from government interventions.

The commissioner, however, warned the enumerators against falsifying information, manipulating records or conducting the exercise without physically visiting the designated communities.

She said the data collection process would be monitored through geographical coordinates, including latitude and longitude, while information gathered in the field would be transmitted to the National Social Register’s central database for verification.

Aligwe cautioned that any attempt to submit inaccurate information could undermine the credibility of the exercise and jeopardise the state’s eligibility for future interventions.

She urged enumerators who were not prepared to carry out the assignment diligently to withdraw rather than compromise the process, stressing that the success of the programme depended on the integrity of the data collected.

The commissioner also directed the enumerators to work only within their assigned local government areas, noting that their familiarity with the terrain would enable them to access communities and identify households more effectively.

She said the state government had made provisions for the identification of authorised personnel through branded aprons and other official identifiers to distinguish enumerators, desk officers and supervisors from unauthorised individuals.

Aligwe further emphasised that the social register would serve as an important database for government ministries and development partners in planning and delivering interventions in critical sectors, including health, agriculture, education and human capital development.

She noted that reliable household data would help authorities identify the needs of different population groups, including young people, women, older persons and other vulnerable residents.

The commissioner said the exercise was particularly important as the federal and state governments sought to move beyond temporary palliatives towards sustainable empowerment initiatives that would enable beneficiaries to improve their livelihoods.

She explained that the proposed social protection interventions were expected to provide opportunities for eligible beneficiaries to strengthen their economic independence, including through business and livelihood support, subject to the applicable programme criteria.

Aligwe urged the enumerators to treat the assignment as a public service requiring honesty, commitment and professionalism, rather than an opportunity to collect payment without performing their duties.

She recalled that households captured during an earlier registration exercise in 2020 had subsequently benefited from social intervention programmes, including conditional cash transfers, underscoring the importance of accurate registration.

The commissioner appealed to residents to cooperate with authorised enumerators by providing truthful information, adding that the quality of the data collected would influence the effectiveness of future interventions.

She expressed optimism that the two-week exercise would be completed successfully, enabling Ebonyi to submit the required household data and position eligible residents for consideration under forthcoming social protection programmes.

The initiative, she added, reflects the state government’s commitment to working with the federal government to expand social protection, address economic hardship and improve the welfare of vulnerable households across Ebonyi State.