Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has inaugurated two committees of Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N- CARES) and Sokoto State Consultative Committee on Statistics (SOCCOSTAT).
Speaking while inaugurating the committees at the Council Chamber of Government House, Sokoto, the governor said the N-CARES Committee will provide strategic basis for expanding access to livelihood support, food security services, and; grants for poor and vulnerable households and firms.
On its part, the SOCCOSTAT, the Governor said, was constituted due to the focus of the present administration on providing an enabling environment for the development in the State.
Inaugurating the N-CARES committee co-chaired by the Commissioners of Budget and Economic Planning and that of
Commerce and Industries, the governor observed that the world today is faced with the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic which has shut down the global economy, thus affecting livelihoods and local economic activities.
He also noted that the additional effects of the outbreaks is evident in the informal economic sector, which is the reason why government have to provide effective measures for cushioning the economic effects of the pandemic on the people.
Tambuwal further explained that in view of the fact that poor and vulnerable households and firms are faced with challenges of meeting their daily needs and obligations, it becomes incumbent on Government to find best ways to provide succor to most affected categories of the populace.
He explained that this is why the state government decided to participate in the N-CARES program, which is an emergency package offered by the World Bank Group to cushion the effects of the Covid-19 shocks and support recovery efforts of local economic activities.
With focus on: i) cash transfers & livelihood support to poor and vulnerable households,
ii) increasing food security & safe functioning of food supply for poor households; and, preventing collapse/facilitating recovery of households/micro enterprise, the committee, said the governor, is constituted to oversee the implementation of program.
Members of the committee, according to him, are selected on the basis of their records of experience, commitment and hard work.
While charging the committee, to live above board and justify the confidence reposer in them, the governor also urged them to carry out their assignment with due diligence, in a timely fashion and according to the plan.
He, therefore, named the other members of the N- CARES steering Committee as the Commissioners of Finance, Agriculture, Animal Health and Fisheries Development, Social Welfare as well as Rural Development.
Other members are the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry for Local Government, the Directors-General of Fadama lll and the Sokoto State Small and Medium Scale Development Agency (SOSMEDA) and the Chairman of the State Zakat & Waqaf Commission.
Additional members are : the Head of Cash Transfer Office, the Area Manager of the Bank of Industry and the Head of N-CARES Coodinating Unit, who will serve as Secretary.
Naming the State’s Statistician-General as the Chairman of the SOCCOSTAT, Gov. Tambuwal said that objective planning for socio-economic development can only be based on available information, particularly statistical data.
Noting that in the development world, data is the new oil or gold, he urged the State Bureau of Statistics to make more efforts in collaborating with the various stakeholders to develop a robust system of collecting, compiling, analyzing and interpreting statistical information for inputs into policies and programs, especially in the area of human capital development.
As a result, SOCCOSTAT membership include
th Directors of Planning in the State Ministries of Education, Health, Agriculture, Finance and Local Government.
Others are: the representatives of the National Bureau of Statistics, the State Attorney General, the Organized Private Sector and the Director of Planning in the State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, who will serve as Secretary.
Gov. Tambuwal enumerated the functions of the committee as: a) serving as the mechanism for coordinating the State Statistical System, b) examining the statistical programs of the various agencies annually, d) reviewing and advising on the condition of service of statistical personnel; and, e) developing strategies which will ensure uniform standards and methodologies amongst the various agencies, with a view to improving on the quality, comparability and timeliness of their statistical output.
