The National Social Protection Forum (NSPF), a coalition of over 140 Civil Society Organizations and Partners in Nigeria working on social protection, has launched the Social Protection Electoral Advocacy Campaign, tagged “Social Protection to End Poverty 2023 Campaign.”
The Electoral Advocacy campaign is aimed at creating awareness among political candidates ahead of the 2023 general elections on the need to prioritize investment and expansion of social protection programmes to address multidimensional poverty in Nigeria.
The launch which witnessed the presence of stakeholders from political parties and different Federal parastatals was supported by Save the Children Nigeria under its Expanding Social Protection for Inclusive Development (ESPID) Project funded by the UK Government in Nigeria.
While speaking at the launch of the campaign, Dr. Taiwo Benson, a CSO member of the NSPF and coordinator of the campaign shared that the campaign is adopting a two-way approach where politicians are able to prioritize social protection while citizens also use their votes to demand increased commitment to social protection.
Benson buttressed that “this campaign is geared towards ensuring that electoral candidates and their parties understand the importance of social protection in lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty and in mobilizing the electorate to use their votes to demand increased coverage of social protection initiatives across the country.”
He thereafter appealed to “political candidates and the electorates to see the 2023 general elections as an opportunity to improve the standard of living of Nigerians and ensure that every Nigerian can live a life of dignity.”
On his part, Dr. Adebukola Adebayo, Disability Inclusive Expert and member of the NSPF clarified that social protection is people’s rights and should not be used as voters’ inducement as popularly done by incumbent administrations, especially at state and local levels.
“We have been generating evidence of social protection interventions and we are educating citizens to understand that social protection is their right. This is necessary because we have observed that there is a tendency for incumbent governments to delay social protection interventions to the election period, thereby using it to induce voters. The people are more enlightened that it is their right”, Dr. Adebayo added.
Noting that Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) are among the poorest of the poor in society, Dr. Adebayo shared that PWDs in the country are also engaging political candidates on issues that are germane to them, especially with regard to social protection, so they can exit the poverty cycle.
Jessica Bartholomew, the coordinator of the Kaduna Social Protection Platform corroborated that the campaign seeks to ensure that electorates demand their rights as regards social protection and to educate the candidates, so they know what to commit to, in order to break the cycle of poverty in the country.
“This electoral advocacy campaign is a strategy to help to ensure social protection intervention is sustained beyond the current”, she added.”
Director, Advocacy Communication Campaign and Media at Save the Children Nigeria, Amanuel Mamo, while delivering his goodwill message commended the efforts of the CSO partners which led to the launch of the campaign.
Mamo mentioned that addressing multidimensional poverty needed to be treated as a matter of urgency and it needs an innovative approach, such that Nigerians irrespective of age and social status live a life of dignity and their rights are protected.
He stressed that Social Protection should be a continuous approach, not only during elections.