The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, has approved the expansion of the State Social Register, a key repository for identifying the poor and the vulnerable individuals eligible for various social interventions in the State.

The State Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Performance Management, Mr. Niyi Adebayo made the announcement during a sensitization meeting with Chairmen of the 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 22 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Ado-Ekiti.

The Commissioner emphasized the critical role of stakeholders at the local level , including Traditional Rulers, Iyalojas and Ward Councillors in the expansion process, which aims to ensure inclusivity and neutrality.

“The expansion of the register will accommodate additional poor and vulnerable households as some have exited the vulnerability threshold while others have newly fallen into it,” he stated.

Mr. Adebayo who noted that a total number of 154,105 registered households and 581,003 Household Members were registered from 2014 till date, said intervention programmes carried out from the register include Skill for Job, Public Work Programme, EK-CARES, Livelihood Grants and Special Grant Transfer to the Elderly.

“The importance of this meeting is to solicit your support and to crave your indulgence to sensitize your community members and to support the Community Development Officers (CDOs), enumerators and other relevant stakeholders that will soon be visiting your communities to generate the list,” the Commissioner concluded.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Performance Management, Mr Sola Akinluyi Esq said the importance of the Social Register cannot be overemphasized as the document provides a veritable platform for providing social interventions for vulnerable individuals and households.

“Ekiti State through Community Based Targeting (CBT) approach, started the register of the poor and vulnerable households with the support from the World Bank in 2014 and since then, the World Bank had supported the State to carry out 19 rounds of CBT exercise across the State”, he stated.

Mr. Akinluyi who commended Governor Oyebanji for the initiative, noted that this is the first expansion of the register solely funded by the State Government without any support from the Federal Government or World Bank.

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The Project Coordinator of the State Operation Coordinating Unit, Mr. Abiodun Ariyo revealed that the CBT exercise would be community-driven, with community members selecting their beneficiaries.

Mr. Ariyo called for the Chairmen’s support in ensuring the security of Community Development Officers (CDOs), Enumerators and the Community Based Targeting Team, particularly in areas prone to security challenges and emphasized the need for community education and mobilization for the exercise.

He stressed the importance of including all eligible individuals, warning against exclusion, saying “this register is not limited to the indigenes and is expected to include every vulnerable person contributing to the community’s economic development”.

The meeting concluded with a call for cooperation from all stakeholders to ensure the success of the expansion exercise.

Present at the meeting were the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government Affairs, Mr. Andrew Olaoye and other top government officials of Government.