The 2.7 million persons captured in the poor and vulnerable peoples register have placed Kaduna among the top five states with a significantly poor population.

This was disclosed by the Kaduna State Commissioner for Planning and Budget Commission, Muhammad Sani-Abdullahi on Wednesday.

Speaking at a one-day multi-sectoral meeting on the state social register in Kaduna, Mr Sani-Abdullahi, said the number of poor and vulnerable persons in the state’s register increased by 28.57 per cent as of December last year, as against that of the year 2020.

He was represented by Jummai Bako, the director of Monitoring and Evaluation.

Mr Sani-Abdullahi said that the figure rose from 2.1 million individuals in 2020 to 2.7 million as at December 2021.

“As of today, a total of 680,888 poor and vulnerable households, consisting of 2.7 million individuals, have been captured in the register.

“This has placed Kaduna state among the top five states with highest data of poor and vulnerable in the country”, he said.

Mr Sani-Abdullahi said the State Executive Council had approved the Social Register as the primary data source for all pro-poor interventions in the State.

He reiterated the state government’s commitment to ensuring that all interventions targeted at poor and vulnerable persons, were delivered in an inclusive and transparent manner.

Also, Biya Dogon, Head of Operations, State Coordinating Operations unit (SOCU), said that of the 2.7 million individuals, 1.3 million were males while 1.4 million were females.

He added that 2.5 million persons, representing 94.5 per cent, were from rural areas, while 131,041, representing 5.5 per cent, were from urban areas.

The official also said 46,952 out of the 2.7 million individuals in the register were persons with disabilities.

(NAN)