Abia, UNICEF, and ILO Target a Functional Social Register

Boniface Okoro in Umuahia

The Abia State Government announced that it is drafting a social protection bill to be presented to the House of Assembly in September. The bill aims to secure the continuity of the state’s social protection policies, interventions, and programmes.

One of the legal foundations the bill will support is the 36‑month EU‑funded “Supporting Sustainable Social Protection Systems in Nigeria (SUSI)” project. SUSI concentrates on four main result areas: creating a functional social register that includes more poor and vulnerable households; building staff and policymaker capacity through training; developing a legal and policy framework via a social protection bill; and strengthening the social protection management information system across sectors.

Under the project, the state government partners with UNICEF and the ILO to maintain a functional social register that already lists about 1.5 million individuals and more than 240,000 poor and vulnerable households. The partners also provide training for policymakers and advocate for the social protection bill.

After the SUSI engagement on 17 June 2026 in Umuahia, Abia’s Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Mrs. Ngozi Blessing Felix, explained that Abia is one of four states selected for the project, alongside Benue, Oyo, and Sokoto. She said the meeting focused on implementation, financing, coordination, and administration of social protection.

Mrs. Felix stated: “Abia is the only state in the Southeast and South‑South part of Nigeria benefiting from the project. We are actually lucky to be one of the states selected.”

“Today, we looked at one of the very key areas and objectives of the project—ensuring we have legal frameworks that support the sustainability of social protection, given that this is a programme meant to support the dignity of life for citizens, especially vulnerable citizens.”

“To guarantee sustainability, it is critical to have a legal framework that outlives the current government and any political cycle.”

“So today, we discussed how Abia State would commence the process of drafting a social protection bill.”

The commissioner added that a complementary engagement had already been held with the Abia State House of Assembly, while work continues to finalize the state social protection policy.

Regarding beneficiary targeting, Felix said Abia State is updating and expanding its social register, which currently lists “close to 1.5 million individuals and slightly over 240,000 households,” with the state poverty rate at about 31 percent.

Vulnerable persons are identified using 47 measures provided by the National Social Safety Net Coordination Office (NASCO). These include the aged, chronically ill, persons with disabilities, and those lacking employment, healthcare, or education.

Abia’s Attorney‑General and Commissioner for Justice, Ikechukwu Uwanna (SAN), noted that UNICEF, ILO, and the EU are providing technical support to ensure the bill is ready for the House by 1 September 2026, “to domesticate essentially what Section 17 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides—that there shall be social welfare for the citizens.”

Prince Uzor Nwachukwu, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, said local government chairmen, traditional rulers, village heads, and church leaders would help identify the truly poor at the community level to avoid nepotism. “The people will come as a community to choose those that should be affected by the programme… It’s not one person sitting down to write out a list,” he said.

UNICEF’s Social Policy Manager, Zarema Yerzhanova, described social protection as “a major policy lever to deliver results not only for children, but ultimately to improve human capital development in the country and contribute to the economic and prosperous future of the nation.”

Yerzhanova praised Abia State for establishing a Social Protection Council and pledged continued engagement with the Ministry of Justice to advance legislative support, which she called “the core in any country to make social protection effective.”

Another UNICEF representative, Dr. Victor Chima, explained that social protection is essentially social security—policies and programmes aimed at reducing and preventing poverty and vulnerability across the life cycle. “This includes benefits for children, families, maternity, unemployment, employment injury, sickness, old age, disability, survivors of all kinds of abuse, as well as health protection,” he said.

Head of the State Operations Coordinating Unit (SOCOU), Ezenwa Maduagwu, described the process for generating data for the social register. “We have Community‑Based Targeting Teams—12 in number, divided into three teams, with six enumerators. They sensitize communities, engage stakeholders, share people into groups—men, women, the less privileged—and ask them because they know who among them is poor and vulnerable. After selecting, we do harmonization of the list,” he said.

The meeting drew critical stakeholders from relevant social protection implementing agencies and ministerial departments in the state.