Dappa Maharajah.

UNITED Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged the Federal Government and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the country on the ratification of National Social Protection Policy (NSPP).
The UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Akure, Mr Tejinder Sandhu, said this yesterday in Akure at the opening of a 3-Day interstate social protection study tour organized in collaboration with the Ondo State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget.
The international organisation convened 15 states of the federation and eight UNICEF Field Offices in Akure for knowledge sharing and transfer on Ondo State social protection initiatives like free school bus shuttle, micro credit schemes and family court.

Sandhu mentioned that the draft of the NSPP since 2011, which is yet to be ratified by the FG, would bear positive implications and expedite the realization of the 2030 visions and goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Free school meals will be provided to all pupils in public primary schools,” he quoted the Policy Measure 1of NSPP postulates, among other 15 policy measures geared towards the betterment of the people.
Lack of NSPP in the country, he said, might scuttle the 17 goals of SDG, which are intertwined with the 16 policy measures of the former, emphasizing that everybody needs social protection.

This and other factors, UNICEF disclosed, led to the failure by Nigeria in the realization of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2015.
However, the UNICEF Chief noted that Ondo and Osun states are making considerable efforts and landmark successes in the provision of social protection initiatives for their citizenry.
He tasked the FG and CSOs on the ratification of the six years pending NSPP, urging other states governments in the country to imitate the laudable programmes in Ondo and Osun states.
The state governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), who praised UNICEF for its commitment on NSPP advocacy, stressed that social protection in any nation is so important to combat poverty, vulnerability and exclusion.
Akeredolu added that it is designed to enhance the capabilities of the people and to stipulate them for socio-economic development, revealing that he too and several others benefitted in the social protection programmes of past governments.
According to him, “If the NSPP is passed into law, it would cater for the people of the nation to promote and enhance sustainable livelihood and right to dignity. It provides a social guarantee for accessing social services.”
He assured that his administration would continue and build on the social inclusion and integrated rural development programmes of his predecessors from late Chief Michael Ajasin to Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.
The governor lauded his immediate past predecessor, Mimiko, for implementing sound programmes especially on health and education, affirming that his administration will leverage on the knowledge transfer and experience by the technical work group.