Mrs Halima Oyiza Sadiq is the Kogi State Coordinator for African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) and the ACT NAIJA Project — a humanitarian project co-founded by the European Union (EU) meant to strengthen social protection activities in the state. In this interview with our correspondent, YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU, she spoke on the efforts being made to have the social security laws passed in the state as a support base for the vulnerable citizens like women, people with disability (PWD), pensioners, the aged, and senior citizens. Excerpts…
What do you do with ANEEJ in Kogi State?
We are implementing a humanitarian project for the period of three years, beginning from 2025. The project is meant to strengthen the social protection system in Kogi State. When we talk about social protection or social security, we are talking about a set of activities, programmes and interventions that are put in place by the government to support the vulnerable population across Nigeria, including Kogi State. In our setting as Nigerians, every segment of the population is vulnerable. And the vulnerability of every individual differs. A civil servant or public servants enjoying monthly salaries can be comfortable, but as soon as you retire from active service, you become vulnerable because you may begin to experience delay in payment of your pension. An able bodied man or woman with no physical challenge may be comfortable, but an accident can happen any day, and the next day you become vulnerable. So, time and factors made everyone vulnerable. It is not only people living with disabilities (PLWDs) that are vulnerable citizens that must rely on the government’s social interventions. Everyone is vulnerable. But our main focus is the poorest of the poor, those who do not actually understand their rights talk less of demanding for them.
With the NGO, we carried out a baseline survey before we took off in April 2025, to know the level of social protection enjoyed by the citizens, and we realised that Kogi State has no social protection policy in place at all. That means there is no coordination, or no system put in place, no social protection law by the state government. That means the state has no data or records of social interventions programme for the state. And that was why Kogi State became an area of focus. This law has to be in place to strengthen the support base for these vulnerable populations in the state.
So, a steering committee and a technical committee were put in place to develop working plans towards bringing about a draft social security policy. The technical committee comprises the state Ministry of Women Affairs, the state Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, PLWD etc. Then we formed a team comprising these ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), and commence sensitisation of the citizens on the availability of social security programmes. We went to communities across the three senatorial districts to enlighten them on how they could access these social security being provided by the government. The steering committees, on the other hand, are the heads of these MDAs from the local to the Federal Government. So, with this technical committee, we embarked on sensitisation of citizens. We organised outreaches in selected communities mainly to educate them on the existence of these social security provisions like the mandatory cash transfer, school feeding programme, poverty alleviation programme etc.
We discovered in the course of the sensitisation programme that some of these social security services provided by the government were seen by the people as charity from the government. Most of our rural people (think) when the government provides feeding for school children or provides free medical care for pregnant women, the people see it like one political party doing them a favour. They don’t know it is their rights as citizens to enjoy such social services. But through our various outreaches, they became aware that it is actually their right to enjoy such services. So, we succeeded in using the outreach and sensitisation programme to educate the vulnerable population of these rights, and also teach them how to access these social services.
Another function of the technical committee is to begin the processes of drafting the social protection policy with the state government. The fact remains that Kogi State has no social protection policy in place – meaning that there is no law in the state that spelt out social security services and social security protection. That also means there has been no organised coordination of social security services for citizens of the state. You will realise that the government does provide social services to its citizens, but in an unorganised way. There is no structure, no law to guide the implementers of the programme etc.
So, the technical committee has been able to come up with the draft of the social security policy of the state. The draft has been thoroughly reviewed, and after the review, we had a validation of the draft policy. The reason for the validation was to seek inputs from private and public individuals, stakeholders, state and non-state actors etc to have access to this draft, and make their inputs, so that the draft is not limited to the inputs of the technical committee alone. And after all the contributions of the stakeholders, I’m happy to announce that we now have a draft of social protection policy for Kogi State, and the draft is domiciled at the state Ministry of Women Affairs being the Coordinating Ministry. The next stage is to get the draft delivered to the office of the Executive Governor where it will be packaged as an executive bill to be sent to the State House of Assembly for their approval. Good enough, we have been able to hold consultative meetings with the State House of Assembly, and they have indicated their readiness to do their bid as soon as the executive bill gets to them. I could see their enthusiasm to get this bill processed into law for the state as quickly as possible.
Now, when this bill is eventually passed into law, it will bring coordination of the social protection activities. It will bring synergy among relevant MDAs, so that there will be no conflict about which ministry handles this or that.
Another huge advantage the proposed bill will bring is that the social security services will be channelled to the real needy or beneficiaries. Our experience in the outreach was that most of the welfare services of the government hardly get to the targeted population. Yes, there is the social safety net register which often contains the names and details of vulnerable citizens enrolled as expected beneficiaries, but at the end of it all, the services don’t get to the people listed on the social safety net register. Social security items are often diverted to somewhere else. The interventions hardly get to the vulnerable population. But all that will be addressed when the bill is passed into law.
We have various social intervention programmes such as the Home Grown School Programme. We have the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme. We have the YouWin Programme, Free Health care for pregnant women, PWD, including the social interventions from the Federal Government. So, the advantage of the bill is that the room for diversion will be minimised because there will be legal implications for anyone caught violating the social protection laws. Then the real vulnerable will be able to enjoy these services.
My joy is that the impact of what we are doing is already being felt at the top government quarters. I was so glad to discover that the state governor had already made budgetary provision for the social protection policy in the 2026 budget. But then, if there is such budgetary provision, and there is no policy, it’s like doing Father Christmas for party loyalists or embarking on political patronage. So, the state governor needs to muster more political will by getting this policy in place as soon as possible. Hence, I take this opportunity to once more appeal to the state governor, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, to expedite action on this bill. Every other process has been completed. All that is left is the governor to transmit the executive bill to the State House of Assembly. So, it is my earnest expectation that this draft bill is passed into law before the end of this year 2026, and that will give the vulnerable population a sense of belonging. ANEEJ and the EU are ready to do all that is possible to get the bill passed.
Do you think it is possible to have this bill passed into law before the end of this year 2026?
Yes, it is possible. All the processes have been completed from the side of the NGO. The good thing is that all the stakeholders are very passionate about this policy, and they have cooperated and worked in synergy to get the draft ready so far. All that is required now is for the coordinating ministry, the Ministry of Women Affairs, to get the draft across to His Excellency. And from the information available to me, the governor is willing. The Kogi State House of Assembly are very enthusiastic about this policy, and they are waiting for it with high expectations from the executive governor. So, everyone is ready, hence, I can confidently say the bill will be passed before the end of 2026.
For their efforts so far, I must express my gratitude to the immediate past Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Fatima Momoh. We started with her from the beginning before she recently moved to the Ministry of Culture. And the current commissioner, Honourable Acharu, took over. Hon Acharu is working with the same passion we experienced under the former commissioner. So, I must commend him for his passion to have the draft ready. I must also applaud the efforts and contribution of the Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon Timothy Ojoma. She is another woman that has helped in getting this policy ready for government’s assent. The Deputy Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon Comfort Egwuaba, is phenomenal in the process. She has been a strong advocate of this policy.
But having said that, I will still appeal to the Commissioner for Women Affairs to give this draft a push in a way that will draw the attention of His Excellency to the bill for executive inputs.
What you are doing in protection of the vulnerable citizens is beyond an NGO work. You are already so passionate about it. Did you realise this?
Yes, I agree. I’m already passionate about it. I am a mother. I am a family person. I am from Kogi State. I should be concerned about everything that affects my state. Because we live as brothers and sisters. Forget about our political divide. We are, first of all, humans who need the basic necessities of life. We all need food, clothing, and shelter, and if that is applicable to every one of us, then we need each other, and overall, we need our government to deliver the goods to every deserving citizen. An able-bodied woman like me will not want to see another woman with disability. My passion is to do my personal bid to make that PWD comfortable, and I don’t have the personal capacity to help, I will get the government to come to the aid of the vulnerable ones. So, you are also human, and so, you can understand my passion (for) this job.
Again, I’m passionate (about getting) our people prepared for tomorrow. It’s best to prepare for tomorrow. It’s best to be preventive and proactive, rather than reactive as a government.
I hereby express my appreciation to the state Governor. He is a proactive leader. He is a leader that is passionate about alleviating the suffering of the vulnerable citizens. He is a leader with a large heart. He loves driving people-oriented policies. And that is why I’m so confident that he will attend to this drafted bill as soon as he gets it on his table. The fact is that Governor Ododo has embarked on several number of social intervention programmes. He has even given cars to PWDs. He gave them jobs, established businesses for them, provided all manner of economic empowerment on a regular basis. The wife of the Governor has also empowered Kogi women and youths economically and socially. But they have been doing all these without putting the policy in place, and no law to guide the implementation. You know there is room for abuse where there are no laws. It will be in the interest of the Governor to have this bill passed, so that all his social intervention programmes will get to the target audience across the state. And by so doing, the state will have the database and the template for implementation, and there will be accountability. Then it will enable the government to have a clearer picture of how to budget for social protection services so easily.