Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq has proposed the establishment of the Social Protection Council to facilitate and coordinate policy, financing and legal framework for Social Protection in Nigeria at the strategic level.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development made the call on Tuesday Sept 1,2020 at a high level Breakfast Policy Dialogue on Social Protection held at Transcorp Hilton.
Umar Farouq said that the establishment of the Social Protection Council will bridge the gap of fragmentation in roles and responsibility created by the design of different pillars of the Social Protection system which operates through various institutional arrangements at the Federal and State levels, Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Government.
“At the back of my mind has been the view of all the initiatives by different players and actors in the humanitarian, disaster and social development space and the question of how to ensure a consistent coordination framework that leverages our various comparative advantages and reduces duplication of efforts.
“It is obvious that we need to build the right partnership to facilitate the strategic policy, practice framework and efficiency to achieve more coordination of the sector’s programmes by creating a joint coordination platform for the sector”.
According to the Minister, the Social Protection Council when established, will consist of a Joint Chair, made up of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
In addition, a Social Protection Technical Working Group will also be required to coordinate operational implementation of Social Protection programs and decisions of the Council, while generating evidence from practice to inform the Council’s actions.
The breakfast meeting was also attended by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the UN Resident coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon and a representative of UNICEF.