The Kaduna State Government says it has registered 2.6m citizens in its social investment program register in urban and rural areas across the 23 local government areas of the state.
The state Commissioner of Budget and Planning Commission, Mohammed Sani-Dattijo, stated this at a summit organized by the Kaduna State Students held at the State-owned University in the state capital on Thursday.
The PUNCH had reported that the Commissioner disclosed shortly after governor Nasir El-Rufai signed the 2022 budget into law, that the state government would be launching a social investment programme with over N4bn provided for the vulnerable sector across the state.
In his keynote address titled, ‘The Role of Students in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,’ the Commissioner hinted that so far 2.6million has been captured for the programme.
According to Dattijo, the N4bn captured in the 2022 budget for the pro-poor intervention by the government, seeks to support the vulnerable and ensure social inclusion among the urban and rural poor citizens across the state.
“As a subnational, Kaduna State has one of the functional Bureau of Statistics which has carried out a comprehensive survey. And so far, we have about 2.6m people on our social register,” he said.
The Commissioner appealed to the youths to be the voice of social transformation in the state while “leveraging on creative ideas and technologies and interconnectedness in addition to conducting innovative research that fast-tracks the attainment of the 17 SDGs.”
Dattijo noted that the youths form 80% of the population in the state, adding that they are critical stakeholders in determining the future of the state as well as “represents hope for the attainment of the SDGs.”
“Today’s generation of youths is the largest the world has ever known. Young people are changing the landscape with high demand for skilled opportunities. As young people, we can define the trajectory of development,” the Commissioner added.
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